Researchers , and governments, also still need to figure out a better way to coordinate this effort around the globe. “We haven’t learned this much about any disease so quickly, I would say, in the history of science that I’m aware of,” says Sumit Chanda, the director and a professor of the immunity and pathogenesis program at Sanford Burnham Presbys Medical Discovery Institute. “Genomic technology allowed us to get here. But if we really want to get serious about preparing for the next pandemic, there needs to be a global command and control infrastructure, with transparency from all governments around the world. These viruses don’t know national boundaries, so it does not make sense to have a balkanized response to the virus.” | |
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“We got pretty lucky that [COVID-19] vaccines work as incredibly well as they do,” says Sanford Burnham’s Chanda. “But we can’t just rely on luck. We need to make a global commitment and come up with an organization that has some teeth and has some funding whose job it is to survey, track and share genetic information. We have the tools to do it – we just need the will and leadership and especially the public to demand that the devastation of COVID-19 is something that shouldn’t have happened and that we never want to have happen again.” | |
— Alice Parker | |
From her article: “The Sequencing Solution: Genetic Surveillance Is The Key To Controlling Future Pandemics“ | |
Appearing in: Time Magazine; dtd: 21/28 June 2021 | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Standing Next To Anyone? |
Pitter Pater, Pitter Pater | |
2020 | Only Now |
2019 | I Think I’ve Been Blurred |
2018 | Progress On The Honey Do List |
And It’s Mostly Free, Too! | |
2017 | Both Dismissed |
2016 | Poetry Isn’t Going To Work |
2015 | MA Fix |
Getting Better | |
2014 | Actually |
2013 | Unfortunate Evolutionary Accidents |
2012 | Tense (Past, Present And Future) |
2011 | What Is Your Preference? |
Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
We Just Need Will And Leadership
Posted in Health, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Alice Parker, COVID-19, Genomic Technology, Health, Luck, Pandemic Preparation, Pathogenesis, Quotes, Sanford Burnham Presbys Medical Discovery Institute, Sumit Chanda, The Sequencing Solution: Genetic Surveillance Is The Key To Controlling Future Pandemics, Time Magazine, Vaccines, Viruses on May 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Not Exactly Preventing Or Realizing
Posted in History, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Artists, Conclusions, Futurologist, General Sir John Hackett (Ret.), History, Philosophy, Predictions, Quotes, Science, Scientists, The Third World War: August 1985, Trends on May 10, 2022| 4 Comments »
History is not an exact science. And ‘the historian of the future’ is as much artist as scientist or academic. But the futurologist cannot be taken lightly. He bases his conclusions on perceived trends, and his predictions themselves may possibly have some effect on the future: in helping either to prevent his predictions coming true or to realize them. | |
— General Sir John Hackett (et al) | |
From: “The Third World War: August 1985“ | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Maybe He Agreed With His Mum |
Come To Me, You’ll See | |
2020 | Imagine Existence |
Posing As Action | |
2019 | Voices Of The Past |
2018 | Sunrises, Rainbows And Newborn Babies |
2017 | Untold Agony |
2016 | Just Borrowed |
2015 | Warning |
2014 | Always More Productive |
2013 | Is Not |
2012 | Loosely Translated |
2011 | Your Opinions Are Not My Facts |
Get Outdoors More
Posted in Education, Environment, Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Bernard of Clairvaux, Education, Environment, Philosophy, Quotes, Stones, Trees on May 8, 2022| 2 Comments »
The trees and stones will teach you what you never learn from the masters. | |
— Bernard of Clairvaux | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Re-institute The Wall Between Church And State |
Once In My Life | |
2020 | Early Knowledge |
Seen Any Messages Lately? | |
2019 | I Don’t Think We’ll Be Serving Them Cake |
2018 | New And Old |
2017 | Ever |
2016 | At The Center |
2015 | True Value In Life |
2014 | A Potential To Be Concerned |
2013 | Fine No More |
2012 | Have You Checked Your Height Lately? |
2011 | Are You Convinced? |
Might Still Flicker Or Shine
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Albert Einstein, Carlo Rovelli, Daffodils, Fermilab, General Relativity, Muons, Muonstruck, Philosophy, physics, Quotes, Science, The Standard Model Of Particle Physics, Virginia Heffernan, Werner Heisenberg, William Wordsworth, Wired Magazine on April 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The central contention of physics has it that the building blocks of the universe will endure even if, or even when, the humans who tally them, and the planet we live on, all die. To see into the deathless universe is to try to see nothing so flamboyant as [William] Wordsworth’s favorite daffodils and walnut groves, but to peer into the coldest spaces, the black holes and the fractional electric charge of theoretical subatomic particles. These entities have no blood flow, of course, but also no DNA; they’re not susceptible to pandemics, however virulent, or the dividends and ravages of carbon. They don’t live, so they don’t die. To model the universe as precisely as possible is to try to see the one thing that even the strictest atheist agrees is everlasting — to try to achieve, in a lab, an intimation of immortality. | |
Back to the living world that’s under our feet. [Carlo] Rovelli is right to caution against the potential delusions of those who are greedy for eurekas. But, as a fellow physicist with a radical streak, he is also sympathetic to their ambitions, a drive to “learn something unexpected about the fundamental laws of nature.” To Rovelli, whose latest book describes quantum mechanics as an almost psychedelic experience, a truly radical discovery entails the observation of phenomena that fall outside three existing frameworks in physics: quantum theory, the Standard Model of particle physics, and general relativity. Only by blowing up one of those frameworks can one achieve the kind of immortality that scientists get, the glory of someone like Einstein or Heisenberg. | |
But to keep looking, as Rovelli has, as Fermilab has with this study on the muon’s magnetism, is also to apprehend hints. To follow hints. In that way, the physicist’s work and the poet’s are the same. And if Wordsworth is right, immortality can be found, of all places, in the hint — the staggering proposition by nature itself that, in spite of all the dying around us, something of all we love might be imperishable, might still flicker or shine or wobble when the rest of our world is gone. | |
— Virginia Heffernan | |
From her article: “Muonstruck“ | |
Appearing in: Wired Magazine; dtd: June 2021 | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Keep Growing |
I Keep Looking | |
2020 | I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Plans |
One Earth | |
2019 | Beautiful Rules |
2018 | Skepticism |
2017 | WWGD? |
2016 | Growing Greatness |
2015 | When It Is Darkest |
2014 | Knowledge And Doubt |
2013 | Three Thoughts |
2012 | Gentle Reader |
2011 | Leave The Light On For Me Anyway |
This Dot – Our Home
Posted in Environment, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Carl Sagan, Earth, Environment, Philosophy, Planet, Quotes, Science on April 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar”, every “supreme leader”, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. | |
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. | |
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. | |
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. | |
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | The Imposition Of Position |
Rainin’ Fire In The Sky | |
2020 | Stand Up! |
Crowd Sourced Scouting Report | |
2019 | Only One Direction |
2018 | Respect Is Long Gone |
2017 | Dream Of Dreamers |
2016 | Dear Automakers |
2015 | And Some Not So Brave Too |
2014 | In My Lifetime… |
2013 | Democracy |
2012 | Borrowed Expectations |
2011 | Not Necessarily True |
One Hour Per Year
Posted in Education, Environment, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Decisions, Paul Ford, Philosophy, Quotes, Technology, The Great Unbundling, Wired Magazine on March 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »
If we’re going to live together, the [tech] giants and me, I’d like to ask them something. Humbly. If you’re a product manager working on a feed or search interface inside of a giant tech company, you have access to hundreds of billions of hours of human attention. Could you help your users spend one hour a year learning about what’s coming for the world, climate-wise, with a small dose of civics to go with it? | |
Because, if you did, that would be 2 or 3 billion hours of shared experience. Two to 3 billion hours of people learning how important it is that we come together calmly. And that is a beautiful canvas of time upon which to paint a future. It would be one hell of a product. We’re counting on you. | |
We have no choice. You won. | |
Billions of us need help making millions, billions of decisions. Decisions about whether to upgrade HVAC systems, or how to fuel our shipping, or what to plant in the backyard. Sometimes it feels like the paradigm has inverted. Technology was the mold growing across human systems. Software was eating the world. Now it feels like humans are the mold growing on technology. | |
I said that there’s no next big thing. But deep in my soft, uncynical heart, where I keep my most embarrassing predictions, I do know what it is. The next big thing is us. Just plain old people. Humans using language. Humans accepting limits. I can’t help you turn it into Q4 results. I don’t know how to invest in it, nor who should run the conference series. Nor could I tell you who should host the podcast. | |
I just know that it’s got to be our turn. I love technology, but this is faith. | |
— Paul Ford | |
From his article: “The Great Unbundling“ | |
Appearing in: Wired Magzine; dtd: May 2021 | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | If You’re A Lucky 11 Year Old |
Just Got To Be | |
Masked Countdown And Gratitude | |
2020 | Democratic Aspiration |
2019 | Soul Before Will |
2018 | Small Things |
2017 | Clear And Warm To Me |
2016 | Ripple |
2015 | Amazing Or Full Of Wonder? |
2014 | Are You Confused? |
2013 | But The Odds Are Against It |
2012 | Far Better Off With Books |
2011 | Timid And Fainthearted |
A Whole New Kind
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Cathy Lazere, Commonsense, Deductions, Dennis Shasha, Human Survival, Mathematical Logic, Out Of Their Minds, Philosophy, Programming, Quotes on March 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Programmers know how to get a computer to perform deductions, because the mathematics involved is well understood. But if you want a computer to perform the conjectural — but usually correct — commonsense reasoning upon which human survival depends, you must invent a whole new kind of mathematical logic. | |
— Dennis Shasha and Cathy Lazere | |
From their book: “Out Of Their Minds: The Lives and Discoveries of 15 Great Computer Scientists“ | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Yea, Spring! |
Smile On Your Brother | |
2020 | Spoken And Shared |
2019 | Real Tools |
Three Cruelties | |
2018 | United States |
2017 | Out Of Luck |
2016 | Wavelengths Of The Earth |
2015 | God Said What To You? |
2014 | Not Saying |
2013 | Ears And Tongue |
2012 | The Story Of Joe (Middle-Class Republican) |
2011 | Happy Birthday, Diana |
Depending On Kindness | |
Seek Good
Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Evil, Ignorance, Knowledge, Philosophy, Quotes, Socrates on March 20, 2022| Leave a Comment »
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance. | |
― Socrates | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Aging Well |
Now And Forever | |
2020 | Always |
2019 | #45 Is More Of A Piddle Than A Puddle |
2018 | Found Out |
A Message To The “Wanna Be” Dictator On Leadership | |
2017 | Still Waiting… |
2016 | Same Old, Same Old |
2015 | Shout! |
2014 | I Hear Voices |
2013 | Ethics And Standards |
2012 | Swing Higher |
2011 | Convicted For Life |
Support For Ukraine Independence
Posted in Education, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged Dog Fight, Dogs, Mark Twain, Philosophy, Quotes, Ukraine on March 4, 2022| 4 Comments »
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. | |
— Mark Twain | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Right Up Until Armed Insurrectionists Attack Congress |
No Time | |
2020 | Sometimes Human Nature Stays The Same |
2019 | Sometimes Too Subtle |
2018 | A Lot Like Teaching |
2017 | Wake Up |
2016 | I Like Dreaming |
2015 | Importance |
2014 | Unearned Humility |
2013 | Science Is Trial And Error |
2012 | Franklin’s Creed |
2011 | First Steps |
2010 | Home Ill… |
Desert Springs
Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Reading, tagged Andrew Carnegie, Community, Deserts, Education, Libraries, Other Blogs, Philosophy, Quotes, Reading, Springs on February 22, 2022| 2 Comments »
A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert. | |
― Andrew Carnegie | |
[Found at one of the blogs I follow: “I didn’t have my glasses on….“ | |
Located at: https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/ | |
The specific post is at: https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/2017/03/11/im-a-reflection-of-the-community-tupac-shakur/ | |
Please visit the original blog / site if you have a minute… — KMAB] | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | And Usually The Former |
The Real Heir… | |
2020 | The Doggie Dab |
A Fork In The Road | |
2019 | #LyingDonald’s Problem With The News And Truth |
2018 | Oh, Hell |
2017 | No Welcome Mat Here |
2016 | Making It Up |
A Missed Beat | |
2015 | We Are All Explorers |
2014 | Still Trying To Cope |
2013 | Dear Diary (A good chuckle!) |
2012 | Conveniently Sequential |
2011 | King’s Speech Number Four |
Rational Probability | |
I Learn Something New
Posted in Education, Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Astronomy, Brain Calisthenics, Connections, Facts Review, Philosophy, Process, Quotes, Science, The Scientific Web Of Knowledge on February 19, 2022| Leave a Comment »
THE IMPORTANCE OF PERIODIC REVIEW | |
For precisely the reasons I’ve just outlined — that science is a process, not a set of accepted facts — it’s a good idea (and very common) for scientists, whether professionals or students, to review for themselves both how the scientific web of knowledge was assembled historically, and how it holds together nowadays. This kind of exercise is a sort of brain calisthenics; it keeps the mind fresh and clear. | |
Every time I reconsider what I know from scratch, I learn something new. Typically I find connections between well-known facts that I hadn’t previously recognized. Sometimes I discover gaps in my own logic, and a couple of times in my career I’ve even discovered gaps in the scientific community’s logic. So it’s well worth going through this kind of introspection, even starting at the beginning with basic astronomy. | |
— Professor Matt Strassler | |
[Found at one of the blogs / websites I follow: “Of Particular Significance“, at: https://profmattstrassler.com/ | |
The specific post is: https://profmattstrassler.com/2022/02/11/why-simple-explanations-of-established-facts-have-value/ | |
Please visit the original site if you have a few spare moments. — KMAB] | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | I’m Retired, I Always Have Time For It! |
Just Mice Elf | |
That Was A Shot In The Arm | |
2020 | Decide, Support, Vote |
2019 | Aware Some |
2018 | Know Any Christians? |
2017 | The Only Thing I Can Give… |
2016 | Wiser But Less Cocksure |
2015 | Not Today |
Wicked | |
2014 | …Am Too |
2013 | Credible? |
2012 | Both |
2011 | Risking Hidden Linkage |
A Little Perspective
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Carl Sagan, Earth, Galaxies, Humanity, Philosophy, Quotes, Science, Stars on February 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. | |
— Carl Sagan | |
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On This Day In: | |
2021 | Put ‘Er There |
Are You Goin’ On Again? | |
2020 | And In The Back |
2019 | Sunlight Stream |
2018 | Wars Without Taxes |
2017 | Multiplication And Division |
2016 | I Went To The Woods… |
2015 | I’ve Got To Run |
2014 | Which Is It? |
2013 | Making You Stronger |
2012 | Sick Of Being Sick |
Greater Than Power | |
2011 | Clear, Specific And Measurable |
2010 | The Runner’s High |
Into The Dark… | |