Last week Dr. Bruce E. Ivins, an Army biodefense scientist, committed suicide. He was about to be indicted for murder in connection with the 2001 anthrax-letters incident. His death lead to an article in the New York Times questioning whether the boon in biodefense spending since 2001 has made the country less secure. The logic …
In finishing up details on our new version of “Principles of Virology”, I came across this outdated statement in the introduction of volume 19 of “Comprehensive Virology”, written in 1984: “Virology, as a science, having passed only recently through its descriptive phase of naming and numbering, has probably reached that stage at which relatively few …
I am always fascinated by how virological terms and concepts are used by the field of computer science. For example, a computer virus is a program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the knowledge or permission of the user. And viral video is content which becomes highly popular through internet sharing, email, …
On 2 March 2008 the New York Times ran an article entitled “More Families are Shunning Inoculations“. With states requiring more immunizations, parents are using religious exemptions to refuse the vaccines. And why would these parents wish to risk that their children contract potentially fatal diseases, such as polio, measles, and pneumonia, which can be …
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” –Albert Einstein During the holiday season, you might think it insensitive to post such a quotation. But as the end of the year approaches, I cannot help but remember all the stupid things my fellow species has done, and …
I just started reading The Drug Trial, about Canada’s biggest science scandal. In the first few pages, the author, Miriam Shuchman, talks about the moral code of science. She lists three examples: Don’t lie about your work. Don’t steal someone else’s work and claim it’s your own. Report your findings, don’t bury them. Then she …
