As the pandemic stretches on, our collective ability to weather adversities and bounce back to emotional stability is being challenged daily. Many of us have suffered significant trauma from illness, hospitalization and death. Many more have experienced job loss, economic uncertainly and financial instability. And everyone has had to cope with an unprecedented uprooting of… Read More The Resilience of Life
People often assume that the objectivity of science requires it to be isolated from governmental politics. However, scientists have always gotten involved in politics as advisers and through shaping public opinion. And science itself – how scientists are funded and how they choose their research priorities – is a political affair. The coronavirus pandemic showed both the benefits and risks of this relationship – from the controversies surrounding hydroxychloroquine to the efforts… Read More LIV GRJEBINE: Politicized science drove lunar exploration — but polarized scientific views are worse than ever
Until a couple of centuries ago, more than a quarter of children died before their first birthday, around half before their fifth. In “Extra Life,” Steven Johnson, a writer of popular books on science and technology, tells the stories behind what he calls, in an understatement, “one of the greatest achievements in the history of… Read More Book review – EXTRA LIFE: A Short History of Living Longer
On May 8 the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court while hearing a PIL wondered why India, a pioneer in vaccine production before the current pandemic and a big exporter of vaccines, had to rely on just two private domestic manufacturers–Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech–to produce Covid-19 vaccines. It has also baffled… Read More Bharat Bhushan: Who destroyed India's vaccine self-sufficiency? // Top Virologist Shahid Jameel Quits Covid Panel After Criticising Government
Washington: A peer-reviewed research has claimed that global ivermectin use can end Covid-19 pandemic, as the medicine significantly reduces the risk of contracting the deadly respiratory disease when used regularly. The common antiparasitic ivermectin is being touted as a miracle cure for Covid-19 by doctors and campaigners the world over. Peer reviewed by medical experts that included three… Read More Immediate global Ivermectin use can end pandemic: Scientists
A growing chorus is now seeing India’s second wave of Covid-19 as a governance failure more than anything else. A May 8 editorial in The Lancet, a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal, placed the responsibility of this current Covid-19 disaster in India with prime minister Narendra Modi. In a scathing piece that details the unfathomable devastation in the country,… Read More The Lancet: India could see over 1 million Covid deaths by August due to Modi’s “self-inflicted national catastrophe”
Last week, Brazil’s total death toll from COVID-19 passed 400,000. In India, the pandemic is taking around 3,500 lives every day and has prompted a global response, with offers of oxygen, ventilators, intensive-care beds and more. Although these two countries are thousands of miles apart, the crises in both are the result of political failings:… Read More India, Brazil and the human cost of sidelining science
The new wave will hurt global efforts and vaccine supplies, experts say. Researchers are scrambling to assess whether new coronavirus variants are playing a role in India. When the coronavirus first struck India last year, the country enforced one of the world’s strictest national lockdowns. The warning was clear: A fast spread in a population of… Read More The New York Times: Complacency and Missteps Deepen a Covid-19 Crisis in India
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday hit out at the “blatant lie of WHO certification” made by Panjali Ayurved for its Coronil tablet, which the company claims is an evidence-based medicine to fight Covid-19, and demanded an explanation from Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, in whose presence the medicine was launched. Patanjali Ayurved Ltd founder… Read More Indian Medical Association demands explanation from Union Health Minister for ‘promoting’ Patanjali’s Coronil
The indigenous Covaxin cannot be administered on those who are immune-compromised or are on a medication, a factsheet released by manufacturer Bharat Biotech said. According to the factsheet, released Monday, those who should be exempted from the list of beneficiaries include individuals with a history of allergies, who have a fever, bleeding disorder or are… Read More Covaxin, Covishield not for everyone — manufacturers list who should avoid the Covid vaccines
After the truth-shower 