Science Journalism

While at the American Chemical Society (ACS) website, my eyes stopped at the following title, Airborne Transmission of COVID-19: Aerosol Dispersion, Lung Deposition, and Virus Receptor Interactions. The lead author, Yi Y. Zuo and his two co-workers are affiliated with reputable US Universities. The article, itself, is from the ACS journal, NANO, the title is short for nanotechnology. The field of nanotechnology was originally launched from lecture given by the late Richard P. Feynman at the California Institute of Technology in 1960. JUSTIFYING THE BAD-SCIENCE? COVID-19 transmission perplexes those of us who watch public figures continue to assert COVID-19 as not dangerous. Many of us continue to mask up and have received a vaccination. Whether for personal gain or perceived political advantage, public officials continue to harm their constituents. When the COVID-19 issue was labeled a hoax in 2020, conspiracy theorists seized on public perceptions of vaccines and masking to equate to ...

 Methane (natural gas) is found on Mars. The unusual aspect of it— there’s no scientific consensus for reasons for its presence. The first hint of methane came in 1976– the Viking landers detected methane’s presence during the landing of the spacecraft. At that time, however, NASA mission specialists couldn’t pin down origins. There was little fanfare made of its presence— was it an instrument error or earthly contamination? Many scientists now believe Martian methane is based on Martian seasonal cycles. [I first learned of Martian methane by reading the seminal book on the technique of mass spectrometry—its primary author is a pioneer in the field mass spectrometry, Fred McLafferty Ph.D. Professor McLafferty went on record by posting the NASA data from the Viking mission in his book. He stated the peaks from the instrumental read-out were from Methane—but stopped short of declaring the presence of Martian methane from the Red Planet. It was a dicey call in my opinion but sparked t...

Many of us pin our hopes on future events that are out of our control. Oftentimes, the events we can't control never had a chance in any other universe --even in those universes we could imagine.  What am I driving at? The world has changed quite a bit since the start of the world pandemic -- the freedoms that seemed immutable at the start of 2020 may never return. Travel to other countries may be predicated on proof of immunization-- and worse yet, not all vaccines are created equal. The present Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being held back until enough data can address the issue of potential blood clots. The clotting, for the most part, occurs in women of child bearing age. Pharmaceutical companies are slowly positioning themselves with newer COVID drugs and vaccines -- in the hopes that life can return to something resembling normalcy. The pharmaceutical giants hope to not lose their profitable edge by having their scientists throw the kitchen sink at the problem. In a previo...

I was listening to the Bald Scientist Podcast  and I was struck with a virtual epiphany moment. Professor Pagan is a researcher and instructor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, USA. He was interviewing a notable science communicator from Mumbai, India. The science journalist, Ms. Clarinda Cerejo, spoke passionately on the subject of bias in the media. The corrected terminology that she used was -- filter bubble . [A filter bubble is defined as that virtual space that people inadvertently fall into as they rely on ONE SOURCE or a FALSE SOURCE for their working knowledge -- it could be everyday knowledge of the world or specialized knowledge. Their views of the world become filtered by false information.] Ms. Cerejo is a trailblazer in the field of science journalism. She led the listeners on a tour de force explanation on how to escape toxic science. It begins with understanding toxic science is information that masquerades as the truth. It needs to be called out as a...

Many years ago I worked in the herbicide industry. I didn’t want to stay more than a year at ‘the company’ — however my wife, at the time, wanted me to stay longer. [An important object lesson: avoid anything that causes ambivalence when working in the sciences. Work in the sciences can be rewarding, allowing a good, living wage. If you are not happy with the job, find one that makes you happy. At that juncture of my fledgling science career, I wanted to teach chemistry and not be in the lab all day. However, processes of herbicide creation borrowed a lot from the medicinal chemistry creation of the past. It was an education I will never lose.] However to my benefit,  I learned the steps behind the creation of standard pharmaceuticals (circa 1986). As I labored to advance the corporate philosophy of creating herbicides that could out-perform standard pesticides of the mid-1980s, my mind wandered at times. I learned about a concept called QSAR— it was pioneered in part by scientist ...

Life, as we understand it, is complicated. One organism depends upon another. Bees need pollen. Plants must be pollinated to produce their fruit. Bacteria, in our gut, need to stay healthy with diets appropriate to our health. Moreover, bodies employ internal viruses and bacteria to maintain good health. Life on earth is closely inter-related.  However, viruses and bacteria have reputations as harmful to the lives of people, animals, and many living organisms. Viruses are known to make most people sick with colds. While the COVID-19 virus looks similar to the cold or the flu virus, at times the symptoms of the new virus can be deadly. At times, some of us appear indifferent or deny our culpability in the spread of the pandemic by not wearing a mask or refusing to be vaccinated. In many ways, this twisted nightmare where so many fail to believe or to trust science may become our ‘swan song.’ Earlier in the 20th century, technology and science enabled so many to leave behind the shac...

I do my best to keep up with the news by watching MSNBC-- I have many reasons for watching it rather than CNN or FOX-News. However my primary reason: I agree with much of what I hear. CNN is good source. However, FOX-News seems to dumb-down its viewers.  Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago I was listening to Rachel Maddow at her appointed time of 9pm EDT. She said something quite plain but profound-- there are other ways to treat COVID-19 infections. Prevention through vaccination may not be the only route. It struck me as strange-- so many unlucky souls have passed on but there are a lucky  few who have been given "mystery" treatments after infection. The former president (#45) happened to be one of them.  While I am unsure what the treatment cocktail consisted for the former president, I ran across an interesting post at the American Chemical Society-- an antibacterial that seems to be effective against COVID-19 (a virus). Anti-bacterials are normally ineffective against viru...