Science

A look at the role of science in society, and our beliefs.

Inside the C.I.A., She Became a Spy for Planet Earth – The New York Times

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Inside the C.I.A., She Became a Spy for Planet Earth – The New York Times

Now, at 70, she’s telling her story — at least the parts she’s allowed to talk about — and admirers are praising her highly classified struggle to put the nation’s spy satellites onto a radical new job: environmental sleuthing.

“It was fun,ȁ she said of her C.I.A. career. “It was really a lot of fun.ȁ

r. Zall’s program, established in 1992, was a kind of wayback machine that looked to as long ago as 1960. In so doing, it provided a new baseline for assessing the pace and scope of planetary change. Ultimately, it led to hundreds of papers, studies and reports — some classified top secret, some public, some by the National Academy of Sciences, the premier scientific advisory group to the federal government. The accumulated riches included up to six decades of prime data on planetary shifts in snowfall and blizzards, sea ice and glaciers.

While much of the defense and intelligence business is incredibly wasteful, they have some unique capacities, especially in the domain of remote sensing that are essential to better understanding what is happening on our planet.

Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) | Earthdata

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Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) | Earthdata

Visually explore the past and present of our dynamic planet through NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS). GIBS provides quick access to over 900 satellite imagery products, covering every part of the world. Most imagery is updated daily - available within a few hours after satellite observation, and some products span almost 30 years. The satellite imagery can be rendered in your own web client or GIS application.

Mathematicians Measure Infinities and Find They’re Equal

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Mathematicians Measure Infinities and Find They’re Equal

In a breakthrough that disproves decades of conventional wisdom, two mathematicians have shown that two different variants of infinity are actually the same size. The advance touches on one of the most famous and intractable problems in mathematics: whether there exist infinities between the infinite size of the natural numbers and the larger infinite size of the real numbers.

The problem was first identified over a century ago. At the time, mathematicians knew that “the real numbers are bigger than the natural numbers, but not how much bigger. Is it the next biggest size, or is there a size in between?ȁ said Maryanthe Malliaris of the University of Chicago, co-author of the new work along with Saharon Shelah of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Rutgers University.

Deciding between a vaccine and…an infection? – Science-Based Medicine

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Deciding between a vaccine and…an infection? – Science-Based Medicine

Evidence that has emerged on the Pfizer-BioNTech and also the Moderna vaccine give us good reason to be cautiously optimistic, perhaps for the first time in this pandemic. The fact that both of these vaccines show such high rates of efficacy is reassuring: Immunization of populations against this disease appears possible. These are the earliest days with these vaccines, however and there is a long road ahead of safety monitoring and follow-up as these vaccines are offered to thousands, and then millions of people. We will also see additional trials report and additional vaccines move forward for regulatory approval. It is absolutely possible that there will be some adverse events identified that we haven’t seen yet. It is also very likely that vaccines will be blamed for events that are completely unrelated to the vaccine itself. But the alternative is killing thousands of people per day and injuring countless others, just in the United States alone, in a trend that continues to worsen with no end in sight. This is the largest logistical and immunization event of its kind in history. And we need it now.

The Great Vaccinator

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The Great Vaccinator

12/3/20 by WNYC Studios

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/116075677
Episode: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/audio.wnyc.org/radiolab_podcast/radiolab_podcast20greatvaccinator.mp3

Until now, the fastest vaccine ever made – for mumps – took four years. And while our current effort to develop a covid-19 vaccine involves thousands of people working around the clock, the mumps vaccine was developed almost exclusively by one person: Maurice Hilleman. Hilleman cranked out more than 40 other vaccines over the course of his career, including 8 of the 14 routinely given to children. He arguably saved more lives than any other single person. And through his work, Hilleman embodied the instincts, drive, and guts it takes to marshall the human body’s defenses against a disease. But through him we also see the struggle and the costs of these monumental scientific efforts.

This is a really fascinating podcast about a fascinating scientist.

No one who got Moderna’s vaccine in trial developed severe COVID-19 | Science | AAAS

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β€˜Absolutely remarkable’: No one who got Moderna’s vaccine in trial developed severe COVID-19 | Science | AAAS

Continuing the spate of stunning news about COVID-19 vaccines, the biotech company Moderna announced the final results of the 30,000-person efficacy trial for its candidate in a press release today: Only 11 people who received two doses of the vaccine developed COVID-19 symptoms after being infected with the pandemic coronavirus, versus 185 symptomatic cases in a placebo group. That is an efficacy of 94.1%, the company says, far above what many vaccine scientists were expecting just a few weeks ago.

More impressive still, Moderna’s candidate had 100% efficacy against severe disease. There were zero such COVID-19 cases among those vaccinated, but 30 in the placebo group. The company today plans to file a request for emergency use authorization (EUA) for its vaccine with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and is also seeking a similar green light from the European Medicines Agency.

The Skeptics Guide #803 – Nov 28 2020

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The Skeptics Guide #803 – Nov 28 2020

11/28/20 by SGU Productions

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/115827346
Episode: https://media.libsyn.com/media/skepticsguide/skepticast2020-11-28.mp3

COVID Vaccine Update; News Items: The Popularity of Principia, Supersized Wind Turbines, A Magnetar is Born, Plant Personality; Special Report: The Truth about Galileo; Whos That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Racial Bias; Science or Fiction

The COVID vaccine update and section on wind turbines is fascinating. I might not agree with all their conclusions but I do appreciate their scientific, informed reasoning.