Friday Feb 18 Doctors for Covid Ethics symposium #3–starts at 1 pm eastern standard time. Available online later.

The National Academies today announced its committee membership to review the FBI’s scientific analysis of anthrax. In an unusual move, the NAS has issued a 20 day comment period in which the public may dispute proposed committee members on the basis of bias. Why was the NAS committee formed? The first mention of such a…

From McNeill and Adelstein at The Independent: It is one of the mysteries of Japan’s ongoing nuclear crisis: How much damage did the 11 March earthquake inflict on the Fukushima Daiichi reactors before the tsunami hit? The stakes are high: if the earthquake structurally compromised the plant and the safety of its nuclear fuel, then…

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SsnL_K1cd0

Here is a very good start at diagnosing inherent problems in the medical research enterprise, and suggestions for correcting them.–Meryl BMJ 2017; 357 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j2973 (Published 20 June 2017) Carl Heneghan, director1, Kamal R Mahtani, deputy director1, Ben Goldacre, director EBM DataLab1, Fiona Godlee, editor in chief2, Helen Macdonald, head of education2, Duncan Jarvies, multimedia editor2 A response to…

Are the Intelligence Committees Being Blackmailed? During the Vietnam war, the NSA spied on two prominent politicians – Senators Frank Church and Howard Baker – as well as critics of government policy Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, and a Washington Post humorist. A recently declassified history written by the NSA itself called the effort “disreputable if not…

Rather remarkable article.  We had a huge COVID surge in January, but apparently this corresponded to fewer admissions.  Inpatient revenue declined 19%.  I thought that was a good thing:  the huge Omicron wave was relatively mild.  Also, some patients have stopped trusting the medical system.  Hospitals won’t admit that yet.  Not that there are lots…