Tag Archives: COVID-19
Super-spreads exist, but do super-spreaders?
What does the term ‘super-spreader’ mean? According to an article in the MIT Tech Review on June 15, “The word is a generic term for an unusually contagious individual who’s been infected with disease. In the context of the coronavirus, scientists haven’t … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged COVID-19, hand washing, Indian Express, masks, novel coronavirus, novel coronavirus pandemic, personal hygiene, population density, super-spreader, World Health Organisation
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A non-self-correcting science
While I’m all for a bit of triumphalism when some component of conventional publication vis-à-vis scientific research – like pre-publication anonymous peer review – fails, and fails publicly, I spotted an article in The Conversation earlier today that I thought … Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine, New England Journal of Medicine, peer review, science publishing, scientific publishing, The Conversation, The Lancet
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Clarity and soundness
I feel a lot of non-science editors just switch off when they read science stuff. A friend told me this earlier today, during yet another conversation about how many of the editorial issues that assail science and health journalism have … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged clarity of thought, coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, editing, editorial decisions, health journalism, newsroom, science communication, science journalism, sound argument
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Go easy on the dexamethasone hype
The people involved with the RECOVERY clinical trial have announced via statements to the press that they have found very encouraging results about the use of dexamethasone in people with severe COVID-19 who had to receive ventilator support. However, the … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm, Science
Tagged COVID-19, dexamethasone, disability, mortality, RECOVERY trial
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Journalistic entropy
Say you need to store a square image 1,000 pixels wide to a side with the smallest filesize (setting aside compression techniques). The image begins with the colour #009900 on the left side and, as you move towards the right, … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged conspiracy theories, coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, entropy, fact-checking, false balance, health journalism, image compression, Indian Council of Medical Research, information theory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Priyanka Pulla, pseudoscience, science journalism, thermodynamics, Washington Post
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The number of deaths averted
What are epidemiological models for? You can use models to inform policy and other decision-making. But you can’t use them to manufacture a number that you can advertise in order to draw praise. That’s what the government’s excuse appears to … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged cherry-picking, COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, epidemiological modelling, epidemiology, India coronavirus lockdown, novel coronavirus, novel coronavirus pandemic, self-fulfilling prophecy
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The costs of correction
I was slightly disappointed to read a report in the New York Times this morning. Entitled ‘Two Huge COVID-19 Studies Are Retracted After Scientists Sound Alarms’, it discussed the implications of two large studies of COVID-19 recently being retracted by … Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged COVID-19, Elisabeth Bik, hydroxychloroquine, New England Journal of Medicine, New York Times, peer review, preprint papers, preprints, scientific literature, scientific publishing, The Lancet
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The virus and the government
In December 2014, public health researchers and activists gathered at a public forum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to discuss how our perception of diseases and their causative pathogens influences our ideas of what we can and can’t do to fight them. … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Scicomm
Tagged COVID-19, epidemiology, Evelynn Hammonds, free press, health journalism, right wing media, science communication, virology
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A caveat for peer-review
Now that more researchers are finding more holes in the study in The Lancet, which claimed hydroxychloroquine – far from being a saviour of people with COVID-19 – actually harms them, I wonder where the people are who’ve been hollering … Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged Andrew Gelman, chloroquine, COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine, macrolide, open review, peer review, preprint server, The Lancet
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The WHA coronavirus resolution is not great for science
On May 19, member states of the WHO moved a vote in the World Health Assembly (WHA), asking for an independent investigation into the sources of the novel coronavirus. Their exact demands were spelled out in a draft resolution that … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Scicomm, Science
Tagged coronavirus lab origin hypothesis, COVID-19, Donald Trump, evolutionary biology, furin, Harsh Vardhan, Nitin Gadkari, novel coronavirus, principle of correspondence, SARS-CoV-2, sufficient cause, sufficient condition, WHO, World Health Assembly, World Health Organization, zoonotic spillover
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