https://alandove.com/categories/policy/ Recent content in Policy on Alan Dove, Ph.D. Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us Alan Dove Wed, 12 Jun 2024 10:09:00 -0400 https://alandove.com/posts/2024/diversity-is-a-survival-issue/ Wed, 12 Jun 2024 10:09:00 -0400 https://alandove.com/posts/2024/diversity-is-a-survival-issue/ Whether you’re a radio club, a university, or a biome, you can’t afford monoculture. https://alandove.com/posts/2024/curious-citations-of-forgotten-lore/ Tue, 28 May 2024 09:39:51 -0400 https://alandove.com/posts/2024/curious-citations-of-forgotten-lore/ We’re throwing billions of dollars’ worth of research on a digital compost heap. This needs to stop. https://alandove.com/posts/2020/2020-04-27-immunity-passports-are-a-horrible-idea/ Mon, 27 Apr 2020 14:07:52 -0400 https://alandove.com/posts/2020/2020-04-27-immunity-passports-are-a-horrible-idea/ A few days ago, the World Health Organization caused a stir by saying that antibody tests may not indicate whether someone is immune from SARS-CoV-2. This led to some understandable confusion, and WHO spokespeople have subsequently walked the comments back a bit. While the messaging might’ve been handled better, the public health experts at the WHO were trying to make a very important point. Several prominent politicians have advanced the idea of issuing “immunity passports” to people who’ve recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection. https://alandove.com/posts/2012/2012-11-01-political-science/ Thu, 01 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://alandove.com/posts/2012/2012-11-01-political-science/ As the shoutfest The Onion fittingly dubbed “The War for the White House” staggers towards its storm-soaked climax next Tuesday, there’s one fundamental question that I don’t think has really been answered yet: Why are scientists such raving liberals? We can’t deny that we look that way to the general public. Nature, which is to science what The Wall Street Journal is to investment banking, unabashedly endorsed President Obama for re-election. https://alandove.com/posts/2010/2010-07-22-archiving-genomic-data-a-proposal/ Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000 https://alandove.com/posts/2010/2010-07-22-archiving-genomic-data-a-proposal/ One of the big problems facing whole-genome research efforts these days is archiving. A single experiment can generate a terabyte or more of data, and while it’s all conveniently stored on hard drives in the short term, that’s a poor medium for handing down the scientific heritage of mankind. The problem is twofold: digital data storage changes constantly, and many formats that were sold as “archival” have since turned out to be alarmingly perishable. https://alandove.com/posts/2009/2009-01-15-from-jamaica-ginger-to-vicks-vaporub/ Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000 https://alandove.com/posts/2009/2009-01-15-from-jamaica-ginger-to-vicks-vaporub/ A new paper in the journal CHEST presents the case of a toddler who went into respiratory distress after receiving a smear of Vicks VapoRub under her nose. To figure out what happened, the researchers replicated the treatment in ferrets, whose respiratory systems are a good model for humans. The results were not exactly consistent with the Vicks “Breathe free” slogan: [VapoRub] stimulates mucin secretion and [mucociliary transport] in the … inflamed ferret airway.