A blog about, well, science, society and stuff…
Siena
Influenza experts are recommending an extensive vaccination programme against seasonal flu in developing countries, in part to boost demand for vaccines so that firms can ramp up production to cope with pandemics. The message came from scientists and policy-makers who met on 2–3 July in Siena, Italy, to assess the gaps in their […]
I have been doing radio interviews today about the flu pandemic. Essentially the message is that while there have been about 30,000 cases of this pandemic strain causing an infection, there have been fewer than 0.5% deaths.
Now, while this is a terrible situation for the families of the bereaved, it is only slightly above the […]
I read this morning how Thabo Mbeki has caused the deaths of 330,000 South Africans by ignoring the scientific evidence that HIV causes AIDS and making the decision in 1999 not to provide drugs that would somewhat stymie the rise in incidence of the disease.
Rolling forward, allowing HIV/AIDS to flourish to this extent, will result […]
Elan, the pharmaceutical company that is part-based in Ireland has had a colourful few years. It’s share price was up around 70Euro about five years ago and now it is worth about 10 Euro, having been worth less than one Euro at one point.
Soe of their troubles can be traced to some funny accountancy practices […]
It has just been brought to my attention that Google have released Google Health. This is a place where you can upload all of your medical and personal data for reasons I do not understand.
Having the personal details of a significant number of people on the planet would mean that Google has more health […]
So, I’m back from Colombia, where indeed, I did have a very good time. The meeting went very well and I think there will be a few productive collaborations as a result.
I didn’t do too much of the tourist thing - not really that easy for such a short trip, though I did get […]
Isn’t this guy’s 10 minutes up yet?
from the BBC:
Singer Doherty is sent to prison
Pete Doherty has been forced to postpone a show in April
Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty has been jailed for 14 weeks for violating his probation and for using drugs.
Judge Davinder Lachar handed the musician the sentence at a court hearing in west London.Doherty […]
Australian actor Heath Ledger has died in a New York apartment. According to the New York Times, the signs point to suicide. He was found at 3:35 ET, naked and on a bed surrounded by pills. It was known that Ledger had a problem with heroin.
This is yet another example of a […]
Today, Fine Gael released a press release that simply beggars belief. This was brought to my attention by Simon of the DossingTimes.
Here’s the teaser, the headline:
Fishermen alienated by Govt could help in fight against drugs - Creed
However, the meat of the press release is in the second paragraph:
Speaking after a meeting with the Irish […]
I have a facebook account. Nothing too unusual there, there are more people on Facebook than live in France.
However, last week, I received a post from somebody and I replied to it. The funny thing was that every single person on my list of Friends received the message, resulting in a lot of […]
