Herd immunity. What is it? What can it do for us? Or to us?
It can be our best friend and our worst enemy.
Herd immunity—friend or enemy?
Tag Archives: travel
Scientists are zeroing in on how to treat COVID-19 The world needs an effective treatment right away.
COVID-19 may infect much of population in many countries. From its origins in Wuhan, China, it has proven lethal in a small but alarming fraction of cases. The principal risk is pneumonia in elderly or already ill patients. There will be no vaccine for at least a year. The world needs an effective treatment right […]
An old drug may treat the new coronavirus Low concentrations of two of the drugs tested kill the virus
For those concerned about the new coronavirus—these days who isn’t?—good news may be just around the corner. Here’s what it could mean for you and your family and maybe for your job. Like any infectious disease that can kill people, 2019-nCoV is bad news. But so far, its bark is worse than its bite: the […]
An amazing birthday present: a universe that allows time travel and helps us understand our existence
In 1949 Austrian-American logician Kurt Gödel gave a friend a strange birthday present: a rotating universe. Gödel is widely regarded as the world’s greatest logician. Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist, was his best friend. For years they walked home from the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study almost every day. The present—for Einstein’s 70th birthday—dealt with […]
Understanding time travel . . . and travel time – Part II
Time is just a tale we tell ourselves to help us manage motion. Last week’s post rocketed you at near light speed to swiftly tour the center of our galaxy. The round trip took you about an hour. Arriving back you found the Earth was 50,000 years older. Time travel— predicted by Albert Einstein in […]
Understanding time travel . . . and travel time
Albert Einstein predicted time travel in 1905. It was demonstrated in 1971 and many times since. The twin paradox provides a dramatic illustration of time travel: You travel to a distant star and return to find you are far into your twin’s future. No-one has done this; but it is a real effect. It has […]
Terrorism needs our help: 7 things we could be doing better to ensure its success.
’Tis the season to consider causes that need our support. Let’s not overlook terrorism. Terror is a multi-billion-dollar business with a clever strategy. But it could have a fatal flaw. To succeed it must recruit a steady stream of pawns to take on tasks that mostly fail. Almost all those who don’t fail end up […]
Major sea-level rise is on the way and entire cities will be flooded.
The world’s last great ice sheet is in the process of collapsing. This is not about climate change. It is about gravity and unstable foundations. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) will raise North America’s sea levels ten feet when it goes. It will shift some shorelines inland many miles. A new study sets out […]
Our Greek Tragedy
No doubt political science is political. Recent travel through the Balkans renewed questions about: Is it science? Greece is out of the news except when refugees grab headlines. In Thessaloniki one could sense a certain un-Greek gloom. Not surprising. Most Greeks want to be in the EU. The EU keeps on treating them as almost […]