A 3-Million-Year-Old Skull Doesn’t Match Any Known Human Ancestor
Category Archives: General Science
The Damage RFK Jr. is Doing to America
may take decades to repair, if it can be repaired.
Opinion – An infectious disease has invaded America’s public health agencies
President Trump promised to let RFK Jr. “go wild” on health and medicine. He has, alas, kept that promise. The result is that HHS agencies — once the envy of the world — and their counterparts in some states can no longer be relied upon to collect and disseminate accurate data, sponsor first-rate research, or implement policies to keep us healthy.
This is in addition to the massive cuts in scientific research across the board. We are handing China the future.
UPDATE: Today former CDC Director Susan Monarez testified before Congress as the the real reason she was fired.
“To be clear, he said there was no science or data, but that he still expected you to change the schedule?” Sen. Cassidy asked.
“Correct,” Monarez said.
Former CDC director tells Senate committee ‘true reason’ she was fired
R.F.K. Jr. is a Fraud
Because Donald Trump is a fraud, his staff consists of the most fawning of sycophants and the nutjobs who appeal to his special interest groups, like Anti-vaxers. R.F.K. Jr. is the latter. A Hunter Biden-esqe creep who made a lot of money fighting for small causes. First, the environment, then anti-vaccination. This week after the administration’s pick to head the CDC (really, the CDCC) quit over RFK’s insanity, and over 1,000 current and former employee’s signed and open letter demanding his resignation. He appeared on Capitol hill today and got slapped around a bit by Democratic, and a few Republican senators.
A Different RFK Jr. Just Appeared Before Congress
How about the rest of the Republican party?
Florida moves to end all school vaccine mandates, first in nation to do so
That is insane.
Continue reading
CDC to be Led by Someone with No Medical Credentials or Background
Because , of course. Trump’s army of “Simpletons” continues it’s destruction of the Federal Government. The War on Science marches on.
CDC gets new acting director as leadership turmoil leaves agency reeling
And the people driving it?
Ohio kindergarten vaccination rates drop 4.5% in five years, health officials warn
A Government Without Experts
It should terrify any American that the science we have relied on all our lives has been compromised by politics. Sadly, the “politics” of fools who believe that everything they read on the Internet is true. Enjoy your raw milk, you idiots.
US pediatricians’ new COVID-19 shot recommendations differ from CDC advice
Time Crystals
What the heck is a time crystal, and why are physicists obsessed with them?
The second part of that title just seems silly. I mean, it’s a time crystal. Who wouldn’t be obsessed. The crystals seem to exhibit a kind of perpetual motion with zero energy.
How Cutting Clean Energy Subsidies Helps China’s A.I. Industry
How the Trump tax bill could help China win at A.I.
It should be noted that Ohio’s corrupt Republican legislature has axed enough solar projects in the last five years to have powered all of Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. All at the behest of the fossil fuel industry.
And on This Day Let Us Consider…
This is the beginning of a current article in Scientific American…
“From World War II until 2024, the US stood unchallenged as the scientific leader of the free world. Across practically every discipline — physics, materials science, astronomy, chemistry, biology, medicine, geology, etc. — American scientific missions and initiatives, often in collaboration with European, Canadian, Asian, and many other global partners, brought us new advances and breakthroughs, paving the way for generations of scientists to thrive. In a society that values facts, scientific truths, education, and the public good, this recipe led to multiple generations of continued breakthroughs and advances.
Since late January of this year, however, all of that has rapidly changed. Many of the most valuable scientific organizations in the world, including NOAA, NASA, the NSF, the CDC, the EPA, and the FDA, have experienced a set of unprecedented internal attacks.Funding streams have been terminated.
Grants that have been successfully competed for and won have been pulled.
Fellowships and scholarships have been revoked.
Contracts have been broken.
Thousands upon thousands of employees have been terminated, often in defiance of court orders.And now, at the start of the second half of 2025, a new budget is on the verge of becoming law, which would largely eliminate science as we know it across universities and colleges, research institutes, and national labs. This isn’t a horror story; this is a real-life nightmare for the most educated and skilled American workers of all: scientists.”
This is a sad thing indeed. And a real betrayal of our country. Hope all that “winning” was worth it Trumpers.
American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history
Long COVID in Kids
“An article recently published in JAMA Pediatrics (or, the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics) presents findings from a study suggesting that Long COVID, a condition where symptoms last at least 3 months and up to several years after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, has surpassed asthma as the most common chronic health problem affecting children.”
Summary here… Long COVID in Young Children, School-Aged Children, and Teens
Full article here… Characterizing Long COVID Symptoms During Early Childhood
Don’t bother vaccinating them, they’ll be fine.
Dispelling Myths About Vaccines
“Since late April, an infectious diseases specialist at Stanford University and his colleagues have been volunteering their time on a project they hope will help educate the public, and combat misinformation, about the safety and efficacy vaccines.”
Vaccine RCT spreadsheet aims to show the data, dispel myths about vaccines
I Could Watch This Guy for Hours
I first heard about “Mend It Mark” when there was an outcry from the Youtube community that he had received a take down notice from a “high end” audio manufacturer called Tom Evans. It became a right to repair issue and many Youtubers posted a copy of the video and dared Tom Evans to try and take them down. Anyway, Mend It Mark is a really good channel of a very competent electronics tech doing his job. Like furniture and tool restoration videos, it is soothing. Here Mark does a quick, but thorough repair on a 90’s Technics Amp.
The Tom Evans thing is pretty neat. He basically reverse engineers a piece of audio kit that has every part “potted” (identifying numbers have been erased or covered on every component) and created his own repair manual. Amazing talent this guy has. The video was restored and is here…
The £25,000 Pre-Amp that went Wrong – Tom Evans Mastergroove SR mkIII
The Planet is on Fire
Climate change is going to cost A LOT. This year is predicted to have record temperatures. Guess what year is the current record holder? That would be last year. Second place goes to 2023, third to 2022 and so on. The longer we wait to deal with this, the longer we stall, the more it will cost our kids.
Summer 2025 forecast calls for ‘overwhelmingly above normal’ heat starting in June
Consequences
More than 90 wildfires are out of control in Canada
Incompetence
All this so Elon and Jeff get a big tax break. Sorry about that ebola outbreak, but we had to cut somewhere!
So Much for Science
Trump’s first-term pick to run the National Science Foundation quits: ‘I have done all I can’
NSF director resigns amid 55% budget cut, mass layoffs from Trump admin
Dr. Panchanathan is leaving as his agency is being gutted. The U.S. has always been a leader in scientific research. This isn’t going to help.
I Smell Putin in This
New images could change cancer diagnostics, but ICE detained the Harvard scientist who analyzes them
Sorry we can’t cure your cancer, but a scientist made Putin mad.
Update: She’s still being held. Now in Louisiana. Russian researcher at Harvard says she was ‘shocked completely’ at being detained by ICE
Good Grief, Why?
I can hear our ice age ancestors screaming at us.
U.S. Scientists Sound the Alarm
More bad news. I’ve heard Republicans complain about the Department of Education, but I never heard any of them say they wast to cut scientific research as a whole.
Scientists sound warning over Trump cuts — and 75% consider leaving the U.S.
America, Please Stop Doubting Modern Medicine
In the year 2000, the U.S. was declared to be free of Measles. Now this…
The Vitamin A toxicity in those kids shows the danger of misinformation on the Internet. Lying is killing kids.
Clean Drinking Water More Cheaply
More Cheaply? Doesn’t sound right. Anyway, This new technology relies on a 3D printing method to make membranes for reverse osmosis desalinization plants. As long as it doesn’t create another problem with the used membranes (unlikely) any help in lowering desalinization cost would be very helpful.
Experts develop 3D-printed device that could reshape our drinking water: ‘This … is what makes our technology special’
Grow New Teeth?
What a world!
Ionic Thrusters
Back in 2002, our Physics teacher introduced me to a student who wanted to build an ionic thruster. I had never heard of one, but I was able to tell the young man where to obtain a high voltage power supply (and give him a long lecture about safety). A few days later he popped by to show me a device constructed of balsa wood, aluminum foil and stainless steel wire that would levitate (it was anchored by its power supply wires) when connected to about 15,000 volts. I was kind of blown away to say the least. That young man is an engineer now and ionic thrusters have continued to be developed by NASA. Here is a further demonstration…
Great series.
Silencing Science
Not that it was a surprise that Trump/Musk and their crew would do this, it just stinks.
Jeeze. We have an unqualified celebrity, conspiracy theory lawyer running our public health system. Not a doctor or public health official, no qualifications whatsoever. Fantastic. Oh boy I’ll bet those right wingers who were worried about free speech will angry about this, right? Lol, nope. Their defense of free speech is highly specific.
UPDATE: – Even more stupidity…
and…
Trump considers easing safety screenings for chemicals
Assuming the United States still exists then, only three years, 10 months and 9 days more to go.
Thank Goodness Someone is Finally Testing Vaccines!
Now we will finally know if vaccines actually work!
Oh, wait. They work. And they always worked? Gee. What a surprise. Maybe they’ll invent one for Measles.
By the way, Fun Fact: The first person to mandate inoculation was George Washington during the Revolutionary War. That woke S.O.B.
Huh, Wonder Why That Happened.
So much for that Measles outbreak in Texas.
First CDC vaccine meeting under Trump administration is postponed