When George Bush quietly dismissed two members of his Council on Bioethics on the last Friday in February, he probably assumed the news would get buried under the weekend’s distractions. But ten days later, it’s still hot—see, for example, two articles in Slate, and an editorial in the Washington Post, as well as Chris Mooney’s ongoing coverage at his blog. Bush failed to appreciate just how obvious the politics were behind the move. The two dismissed members (bioethicist William May and biochemist Elizabeth Blackburn) have been critical of the Administration. Their replacements (two political scientists and a surgeon) have spoken out before about abortion and stem cell research, in perfect alignment with the Administration. Bush also failed to appreciate just how exasperated scientists and non-scientists alike are becoming at the way his administration distorts science in the service of politics (see this report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, which came out shortly before the bioethics flap). And finally, Bush failed to appreciate that Blackburn would not discreetly slink away. Instead, she fired off a fierce attack on the council, accusing them of misrepresenting the science behind stem cell research and other hot-button issues in order to hype non-existent dangers.
Over on my web site I’ve posted an article I’ve just written for the Sunday Telegraph Magazine in England about an eerie brain disorder called musical hallucinosis. You’ve probably had a tune stuck in your head for an hour at least once in your life. Now imagine that the tune played all day and night–and imagine that it sounded as real as if a marching band was standing by your window.
Continue reading “Building and Breaking The Mental Juke-Box”
The Austin Chronicle has an interesting piece today on blogs, which marks the first time anyone’s ever interviewed me about the Loom. Conclusion: no money, uncertain future, but much fun.
Probing the origins of humanity is actually a lot like being a dentist. The bones of our hominid ancestors tend to fall apart, leaving behind a smattering of shards. But teeth, made of enamel, can do a better job of withstanding the ravages of time. And teeth–particularly those of mammals–are not just tough but interesting. Mammals–us included–have several kinds of teeth, each of which is covered with distinctive bumps, cusps, and roots. All those details vary from one species to another. So even if you find a fragment of a tooth, you may be able to figure out what species it belongs to. And if you have enough teeth to compare to each other, you can probe some pretty profound questions about where we came from.
I was puzzled by an article in today’s New York Times called “Researchers rewrite first chapter for the history of medicine.” William Honan, the reporter, announced that “an art historian and a medical researcher say they have pushed back by hundreds of years the earliest use of a medicinal plant.” Until now, he wrote, the oldest evidence dated back to 1000 BC, but now researchers had discovered a picture 3500 years old showing a Greek goddess overseeing crocus flowers being made into medicines.
Continue reading “The Dawn of Medicine, Plus or Minus a Couple Million Years”