The zombie idea of nuclear missile defense returns with the announcement of President Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile shield, a program so stupid and costly that it could make the F-35 follies look like a side show. An orbital anti-missile system is a dream come true for the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex (MIC), but a nightmare for […]
Read more...Part the First: Gene Editing as a Cure for Genetic Disease. The recent politics of American science has been depressing in the extreme, and last week I promised to cover recent good things in basic and clinical science. I can’t think of anything better than a baby has been treated successfully for a rare, lethal […]
Read more...There are 400 nuclear missile silos in the central United States that constitute the land-based component of the U.S. nuclear deterrent. The Minuteman III missiles in the silos are roughly 50 years old. Although they have been repeatedly upgraded over the years, the Air Force decided a replacement should be developed. The new missile under […]
Read more...Part the First: Retrospective Notes on a Pandemic. BMJ, formerly known as the British Medical Journal, has recently published two interesting pieces on COVID-19. The first is an analysis by Anthony Costello, who was previously Director of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health at the World Heath Organization: UK decision not to suppress covid raises questions […]
Read more...The recent fighting between India and Pakistan has provided evidence of the diminishing role of the jet fighter pilot in modern warfare. A large air battle was fought between the two nations on May 6 and 7. India lost at least five jets, some of them advanced French Rafale fighters. Most of the losses were […]
Read more...Part the First. A Few Words in Response to the Excellent Commentariat of Naked Capitalism. No one knows better than I that funding of science in the United States is hit or miss. My overall average flirts with the Mendoza Line, which is not so bad. For most I do not miss the grant treadmill/lottery, […]
Read more...Our warfare focused Coffee Break: the defense contractor racket – what it is and how to stop it
Read more...The leaders of the three largest countries in Western Europe (excluding Russia) are acting like tyrants as their economies implode.
Read more...Part the First. Convergence and Consensus in Science, or and how to interpret scientific results in context. From Holden Thorp, the Editor-in-Chief of Science: Kathleen Hall Jamieson believes that scientists need to talk…about convergent evidence. “Unlike declarations that a consensus exists, a claim that convergent evidence exists honors science’s norms of critique and correction by […]
Read more...On April 22, unknown terrorists attacked tourists in the Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam, India, killing 25 of them. The attackers reportedly segregated the victims based on religion before executing Hindus. Like earlier terror strikes, such as the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Uri attack, and the 2019 Pulwama-Balakot crisis, the […]
Read more...The Western Empire is dying; but, there are no Western leaders, particularly in Europe, who have any ideas on how to arrest the collapse. The ones we are cursed with can only see one way out and that is by going to war. It is not going to be an easy death.
Read more...As someone who has spent most of his working life as a scientific worker and later as an academic scientist, graduate supervisor, teacher, grant reviewer, and administrator, the current devastation being visited upon my colleagues and their institutions is sickening. I have never thought my work was more useful or more important than anyone else’s. […]
Read more...With the government at a loss as to how to arrest the decline of the UK, stupidity seems to have taken the place of sound policy
Read more...Our warfare focused Coffee Break: the dangers of militarizing space
Read more...Democracy is dying in Europe as governments become more authoritarian and a new cold war comes into being.
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