In the National World War II museum, it is easy and even triumphant and pride-generating to look back and see some of the scientific advances made during World War II. There’s no doubt that science is advancing. But I wonder if our ethics can keep pace.
I am fairly proud of Teflon. And synthetic cortisone is widely used and may have saved plenty of lives. It’s a steroid that knocks down the action of the immune system. When a medical substance becomes cheaper and easier to use and known to the public, then it runs a real danger of getting overused. Most concern about overuse is focused on illegal steroids taken by athletes. Nevertheless, everything that can be helpful and fast may make things worse. One example would be the over-prescribing of steroids to kids with allergies.
Penicillin had been invented before WWII, but its use did not become widespread until WWII. Of course, it took people awhile to find out about the ability of bacteria to develop resistances to antibiotics. This has led to newer and stronger antibiotics, which would not be the worst thing in the world. Unfortunately, the excessive use of antibiotics has led to untreatable infections, such as methicilline-resistant strep and an untreatable strain of tuberculosis. Read more on Science and War (and Ethics)…
Filed under medicine, News, prescription drugs, Research, Science by on Oct 14th, 2012. Comment. 
Maybe the folks who continue to argue against stem cell research are just afraid their own stem cells could beat them at a game of checkers.
Listen, I want to live forever. Not like in the song “Fame,” but like in the way that most of us would do anything to live. Or like the guy who had to leave the country to get life-saving treatment for cancer of the trachea. Now he is alive when everyone thought he wouldn’t be. It’s a treatment he couldn’t get in the States. In the States, stem cell benefits are masked by misinformation and fear.
Okay, so I had a metabolic disease that threw me into a coma and nearly killed me a few times. But here I am to talk about it. I think about it every blessed day and I find myself grateful to this universal intelligence. Yes, I am a theist. But I still live in a personal world where I would do anything to live. Read more on Stem Cell Benefits Masked By Fear and Misinformation…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Diagnosis, Disease, Religion, Religion and Politics, Research, Science, Stem Cells by on Aug 17th, 2012. Comment.
I have no use for “science vs. religion” debates. They are artificially created to get people angry at each other, when there is absolutely no reason.
Whatever divine entity you believe in — whatever “universal intelligence” — is not a stupid being. Any Deity would simply reveal to people what they can understand.
Such a Deity has given humans a marvelous mind that can question and search for the truth. Much has been learned — and many miracles are possible — because of the hard work of people who advance science and technology. Read more on Want To Waste Time? Argue Science VS Religion…
Filed under News, Religion, Science by on Jun 15th, 2012. Comment.
The car was parked but the engine was running. Just like me – My body was idle but my brain was running.
As I’ve mentioned before, I love to accompany my husband to various stores, but prefer to let him run in to pick up whatever we need while I wait in the car. I have another companion while he is gone – Public Radio.
I have a friend who is a talented stand-up comic. She’s not in the “big time” but plays the circuit of comedy clubs across the country. One of her routines is about the time she and her then-husband (you’ll see why they divorced in a few moments) stopped at a convenience store for gas during a cross-country trip.
While husband was inside paying for the gas, my friend decided to go inside for a cold drink or a candy bar. She wasn’t dressed formally, by any means – her hair was up in rollers to prepare for the evening’s performance, and she was wearing sweats. Read more on Funding Science Should Be A Priority…
Filed under Education, Government, News, politics, Religion, Science by on Feb 7th, 2012. Comment.
Why can’t science be fun?
I mean, sure – I’d love to see cancer cures, and schizophrenia cures and even more on the promising telomeric theory of living forever. But sometimes, we learn a lot of things that seem – if not useless, then inconsequential –and they prove invaluable later on in ways we can never predict.
Would you like to know in advance if a pop song is going to be a big hit? I’m sure some people would. Believe it or not, that has been the topic of recent research. Okay, so it is a small study. Who would fund further research on this one? There is a certain part of the tender adolescent brain (remember, our brains don’t get completely myelinated until age 28. That means we do not have all the fatty-insulation around the nerves to conduct impulses) that reacts in a very interesting way to music. Based mostly on animal studies, the ventral striatum seems to be associated with emotions that generate behavior. This differentiates it from the dorsal striatum, which has mostly sensorimotor control. Makes sense. Although they are similar, these two different types of behavior are slightly different. Sometimes we decide what we want to do by what we feel physically. If it is too cold, we go for a jacket. The sensory input probably goes through at least a couple of brain centers, like thermoregulation. Read more on Using Science To Predict Pop Music Hits…
Filed under Brain, Research, Science by on Jul 13th, 2011. Comment.
This is the quotation that was next to my picture, smiling and cuddling an electron microscope, in my high school yearbook: “Seek truth and do not part with it…” Yeah, I can’t be the first person who had that idea in mind at least a little bit when considering a research career.
There is a truth about the universe that is being revealed slowly. It takes us a while to get things right. I remember telling some people who thought religion and science were at odds with each other that perhaps whatever deity you believe in will only reveal what people will understand.
If an apple falling on Isaac Newton’s head was God’s way of revealing the laws of gravity to him, it was probably because the work of Galileo had already paved the way for this knowledge to be revealed. For the TRUTH to be revealed. Yet Newton was not ready for genetic recombination. Now, most scientists I know would accept that as universal truth. But, as Jack Nicholson said to Tom Cruise in “A Few Good Men,” — ” You can’t handle the truth…” (from the script by Aaron Sorkin). Read more on There Is Science and Then There is Military Science…
Filed under News, Research, Science by on Jul 12th, 2011. Comment.
When first we moved to an office in a bohemian section of town, my marketing efforts were as naive as they were enthusiastic. I walked into every shop in the neighborhood to introduce myself as a physician and psychiatrist who had recently moved in, and did some innovative things.
I especially remember my visit to a salon, where the customers, all male, (I said it was a bohemian section) told me about various troubles with their physical appearance; hardly my specialty, but I am open to doing what I can do in many context.
As soon as I returned to my office, I got a phone call asking if I could do a wart removal, and how quickly. I declined. I cannot be all things to all people. Read more on Warts And All…
Filed under medicine, Science by on Aug 13th, 2010. Comment.