In an interview with Chris Hayes Neil Degrasse Tyson revealed a big fear of his:
“My great fear is that we’ve in fact been visited by intelligent aliens, but they chose not to make contact, on the conclusion that there’s no sign of intelligent life on Earth. How’s that for measures of intelligence?”
I think Dr Tyson is onto something here. Maybe the aliens saw our small brain size, and started anally probing abductees in the hope of finding a second brain in the pelvic region.
Pedantic bastard has to note that, alas, Stegosaurus and other large dinosaurs did not actually have second brains in their pelvic region. Pedantic bastard just stepped on the joke's dong. Pedantic bastard also doesn't believe in the alien abductee narrative. Jerky pedantic bastard...
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Friday, May 30, 2014
Fuzzy Buddies
It's been a grim week- the headlines were full of the all-too-often horror show that characterizes this country, and the responses from the "blame the victim" crowd compounded the ugliness of the week. Thankfully, we can find a "balm" for our cynical spirits in our fuzzy little buddies.
This cottontail makes its home in an open field by one of our site parking lots:
I see the little critter when I lock up for the night. It lives on the other side of the property from my feline companions... though it's a big enough rabbit to probably give them pause. It's not too shy around humans- I was able to get fairly close to it in the course of my routine.
We also have a whole lot of cute, fuzzy goslings running all over the property.
The parents are protective- they hiss and make "intimidating" displays with their wings when anyone gets too close to the young-uns. Different geese have different dispositions, though... not all of them have the same "protective radius". Unfortunately, it's hard to tell them apart, so you never know which of them will go berserk while you're trying to do your job. Even the most aggressive ones, though, are paper tigers... they'll only go so far in their threat displays before discretion kindles in their breasts. Things calm down considerably when the goslings get larger and the adults finish moulting their primary feathers. This time of year, I tend to give them a wide berth, and the cats won't go anywhere near them.
This cottontail makes its home in an open field by one of our site parking lots:
I see the little critter when I lock up for the night. It lives on the other side of the property from my feline companions... though it's a big enough rabbit to probably give them pause. It's not too shy around humans- I was able to get fairly close to it in the course of my routine.
We also have a whole lot of cute, fuzzy goslings running all over the property.
The parents are protective- they hiss and make "intimidating" displays with their wings when anyone gets too close to the young-uns. Different geese have different dispositions, though... not all of them have the same "protective radius". Unfortunately, it's hard to tell them apart, so you never know which of them will go berserk while you're trying to do your job. Even the most aggressive ones, though, are paper tigers... they'll only go so far in their threat displays before discretion kindles in their breasts. Things calm down considerably when the goslings get larger and the adults finish moulting their primary feathers. This time of year, I tend to give them a wide berth, and the cats won't go anywhere near them.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Sleep Well, Maya!
In a week characterized by bad news, the announcement of polymath Maya Angelou's death was just another sad tale. Ms Angelou had a storied career as a teacher, activist, author, poet, and dancer. My personal favorite performance by her was her narration of a video at the Hayden Planetarium, a tour de force about the vastness of the cosmos, delivered in her inimitable voice. Sadly, I can't find any audio for this presentation, but it was a recording that I would listen to with delight every time I visited the place.
Ms Angelou combined the keen eye of a journalist with the humanity of a survivor... even when dealing with difficult subjects, she conveyed a love of life, a love of people. Her passing was, as she put it in her eulogy of Nelson Mandela, "expected, but still unwelcome"- after all, she made it to 86. Here is "His Day is Done", her panegyric to Mandela:
Maya Angelou's eulogy could have applied to herself in many ways- she never lost her grace in the face of difficulty. Her wisdom was hard-won, her humanity undiminished by the cynicism or despair that would have consumed many under similar circumstances.
I'm going to finish this post with a video from 1957's Miss Calypso album. Stone Cold Dead in the Market is a song about a woman who, after a lifetime of abuse at the hands of her husband, kills him in public. Given the details of her biography, I imagine that Ms Angelou was singing with some empathy, though she found a more felicitous release from the horrors of her youth:
Sleep well, Maya, you articulated truths that had been too long ignored, with a lyricism that never faltered.
Ms Angelou combined the keen eye of a journalist with the humanity of a survivor... even when dealing with difficult subjects, she conveyed a love of life, a love of people. Her passing was, as she put it in her eulogy of Nelson Mandela, "expected, but still unwelcome"- after all, she made it to 86. Here is "His Day is Done", her panegyric to Mandela:
Maya Angelou's eulogy could have applied to herself in many ways- she never lost her grace in the face of difficulty. Her wisdom was hard-won, her humanity undiminished by the cynicism or despair that would have consumed many under similar circumstances.
I'm going to finish this post with a video from 1957's Miss Calypso album. Stone Cold Dead in the Market is a song about a woman who, after a lifetime of abuse at the hands of her husband, kills him in public. Given the details of her biography, I imagine that Ms Angelou was singing with some empathy, though she found a more felicitous release from the horrors of her youth:
Sleep well, Maya, you articulated truths that had been too long ignored, with a lyricism that never faltered.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
MRA and NRA, a Toxic Synergy
When I wrote yesterday's lighthearted post, I was ignorant of the details about yesterday's horrific mass shooting near UCSB. On Saturdays, I work until 4AM, wake up at 11AM, listen to NPR for a couple of hours, and return to work at 5PM. At work, I am in a bubble for the first couple of hours- I have to interact with the public for an hour-and a half, and then have to run around closing the site up after operating hours. Whoa, did I have a horror story awaiting for me when I checked out the web in my first quiet moment.
Now that I'm catching up with the coverage of the shooting, two things strike me- the first is that the killer had a history of making misogynist and racist comments on "Men's Rights" sites, and the second is that he wrote a lengthy manifesto describing himself as a "good and pure" individual suffering at the hands of "brutal and twisted humanity". Two toxic cultural narratives, the MRA narrative of evil women "withholding" sex and love from "worthy" males, and the NRA narrative of the "good guy with the gun" defeating the "evildoers" combined in a poisonous synergy that ended up with seven corpses.
Reading snippets of the killer's "manifesto", one sees a picture of a bitter guy, obsessed with the facts that the "hot" women go out with "brutes" (in a number of instances, a racist obsession with blonde women going out with "dark-skinned Mexicans" and “ugly black filth” comes to the fore). Hypocritically, the guy excoriating women for not seeing his worthy qualities was solely concerned with women's superficial attributes. He was a shallow person, railing at the shallowness of others. In one jaw-dropping statement, he railed that women “should not have the right to choose who to mate with”. Aping the MRA obsession with "alpha males", he decided that his ticket to "alpha" status would be the ability to kill- after the purchase of a Glock 34, he asked, “Who’s the alpha male now bitches?” Whatever personality deficits he had, his dive into the fever swamp of online misogyny caused him to make the transition from an awkward youth to a wannabe supervillain straight out of a Jack Vance novel.
The other evil thread running through this sordid narrative is the idea that violence is the answer to all of life's problems- the "good guy with a gun" being the preferred hero of the tales Americans tell themselves. In the case of this killer, he was the newly-minted "alpha male", armed and ready to kill the "bad" people: “How sweet it would be to slaughter all of those evil, slutty bitches who rejected me.” Distilled to its essence, his warped view of the world could be summed up by his assertion that “the ultimate evil behind sexuality is the human female.” Fit into the narrative pushed by the gun-lobby, he was the "good guy" and the women that he hated were the "bad guys".
While the prevailing media narrative is going to be that the killer was "mentally ill", this is unfair to the already marginalized mentally ill community. No matter what was going in his head, the killer's embrace of misogynistic websites aggravated his problems- a toxic blend of MRA and NRA talking points combined in a synergistic fashion, resulting in a horrific tragedy.
Now that I'm catching up with the coverage of the shooting, two things strike me- the first is that the killer had a history of making misogynist and racist comments on "Men's Rights" sites, and the second is that he wrote a lengthy manifesto describing himself as a "good and pure" individual suffering at the hands of "brutal and twisted humanity". Two toxic cultural narratives, the MRA narrative of evil women "withholding" sex and love from "worthy" males, and the NRA narrative of the "good guy with the gun" defeating the "evildoers" combined in a poisonous synergy that ended up with seven corpses.
Reading snippets of the killer's "manifesto", one sees a picture of a bitter guy, obsessed with the facts that the "hot" women go out with "brutes" (in a number of instances, a racist obsession with blonde women going out with "dark-skinned Mexicans" and “ugly black filth” comes to the fore). Hypocritically, the guy excoriating women for not seeing his worthy qualities was solely concerned with women's superficial attributes. He was a shallow person, railing at the shallowness of others. In one jaw-dropping statement, he railed that women “should not have the right to choose who to mate with”. Aping the MRA obsession with "alpha males", he decided that his ticket to "alpha" status would be the ability to kill- after the purchase of a Glock 34, he asked, “Who’s the alpha male now bitches?” Whatever personality deficits he had, his dive into the fever swamp of online misogyny caused him to make the transition from an awkward youth to a wannabe supervillain straight out of a Jack Vance novel.
The other evil thread running through this sordid narrative is the idea that violence is the answer to all of life's problems- the "good guy with a gun" being the preferred hero of the tales Americans tell themselves. In the case of this killer, he was the newly-minted "alpha male", armed and ready to kill the "bad" people: “How sweet it would be to slaughter all of those evil, slutty bitches who rejected me.” Distilled to its essence, his warped view of the world could be summed up by his assertion that “the ultimate evil behind sexuality is the human female.” Fit into the narrative pushed by the gun-lobby, he was the "good guy" and the women that he hated were the "bad guys".
While the prevailing media narrative is going to be that the killer was "mentally ill", this is unfair to the already marginalized mentally ill community. No matter what was going in his head, the killer's embrace of misogynistic websites aggravated his problems- a toxic blend of MRA and NRA talking points combined in a synergistic fashion, resulting in a horrific tragedy.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Carl Who?
Last Saturday, I wrote about Carl Kasell's retirement from NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. Today, when I listened to the show, I was immensely pleased- one of my all time favorite journalists, Bill Kurtis, has taken on the role of announcer.
I primarily know Bill Kurtis from his classic A&E true crime/police procedural shows, Investigative Reports, American Justice and Cold Case Files. It seems that all of the forensics/police procedural dramas on network television build on the foundation laid by Mr Kurtis' excellent A&E series. As an aside, I have to note how far from grace A&E has fallen, with idiotic fake-swampbillies like the Robinson clan (or should I say klan?) being featured instead of fine journalists like Mr Kurtis. The other titan of A&E was City Confidential frontman and beloved actor Paul Winfield, who passed away in 2004.
I used to work with a woman who was also an American Justice fan, and she thought that Bill Kurtis was a fine-looking older gent. Yeah, there are Bill Kurtis fetishists out there. Every so often, we'd joke about Bill Kurtis, mimicking his onscreen mannerisms while we were conversing (yeah, there were some big nerds in that office). Bill's shows were compelling television, and he, with his perfect anchorman's voice, was a great host. Picking out an episode of Cold Case Files at random, I am amazed at how compelling the show remains years later:
Mr Kurtis also has a great sense of humor, as this self-effacing clip shows:
I could not have hoped for a better replacement for Carl Kasell than Bill Kurtis. Already, he fits into his announcer's role comfortably... this week's show was a nice surprise.
I primarily know Bill Kurtis from his classic A&E true crime/police procedural shows, Investigative Reports, American Justice and Cold Case Files. It seems that all of the forensics/police procedural dramas on network television build on the foundation laid by Mr Kurtis' excellent A&E series. As an aside, I have to note how far from grace A&E has fallen, with idiotic fake-swampbillies like the Robinson clan (or should I say klan?) being featured instead of fine journalists like Mr Kurtis. The other titan of A&E was City Confidential frontman and beloved actor Paul Winfield, who passed away in 2004.
I used to work with a woman who was also an American Justice fan, and she thought that Bill Kurtis was a fine-looking older gent. Yeah, there are Bill Kurtis fetishists out there. Every so often, we'd joke about Bill Kurtis, mimicking his onscreen mannerisms while we were conversing (yeah, there were some big nerds in that office). Bill's shows were compelling television, and he, with his perfect anchorman's voice, was a great host. Picking out an episode of Cold Case Files at random, I am amazed at how compelling the show remains years later:
Mr Kurtis also has a great sense of humor, as this self-effacing clip shows:
I could not have hoped for a better replacement for Carl Kasell than Bill Kurtis. Already, he fits into his announcer's role comfortably... this week's show was a nice surprise.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Watch the Skies
There are a couple of items of astronomical interest in the news. The easier story to wrap one's head around is that this weekend will be characterized by a meteor shower which is expected to be spectacular. I'll be working in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow, so I'll find a likely spot and settle in to watch the show with a couple of friends.
The other, more perplexing astronomical story involves U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Science, Space, and Technology hearings on SETI funding. The House of Representatives basically being a jobs-creation program for troglodytes, things didn't go so well during the hearing. The booby prize for this hearing goes to Representative Chris Collins who, to my shame, represents upstate New York. Collins decided that this hearing was a good time to go full Von Däniken (never go full Von Däniken):
"Have you watched Ancient Aliens and what is your comment on the series?"
Yeah, that's a guy who's got his hands on the purse strings.
There has been valid criticism that the Republican-led committee has held more hearings on extraterrestrial life than on climate change, but the GOP has made AGW denialism a facet of the party dogma. The fact that they are at least willing to conduct hearings with a couple of astronomers would suggest that there could be a glimmer of hope... if the congresscritters weren't so damn misinformed.
A few months ago, I yukked it up at a pronouncement by SETI senior astronomer Seth Shostak about evidence for extraterrestrial life being discovered within the next twenty-five years (the joke was inspired by the old saw that workable fusion power is always "twenty years in the future"). I firmly believe that SETI is performing valuable work. I have no doubt that the inhabitants of Earth are not alone in the universe (though I do not believe that extraterrestrials have visited us). Sadly, our current government is unable to walk and chew bubblegum at the same time, and the representatives are blinded by a toxic combination of fossil fuel funds and scientific illiteracy. I hope we can vote in a more competent congress this November, and I would exhort anyone, before you cast your vote, watch these guys.
The other, more perplexing astronomical story involves U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Science, Space, and Technology hearings on SETI funding. The House of Representatives basically being a jobs-creation program for troglodytes, things didn't go so well during the hearing. The booby prize for this hearing goes to Representative Chris Collins who, to my shame, represents upstate New York. Collins decided that this hearing was a good time to go full Von Däniken (never go full Von Däniken):
"Have you watched Ancient Aliens and what is your comment on the series?"
Yeah, that's a guy who's got his hands on the purse strings.
There has been valid criticism that the Republican-led committee has held more hearings on extraterrestrial life than on climate change, but the GOP has made AGW denialism a facet of the party dogma. The fact that they are at least willing to conduct hearings with a couple of astronomers would suggest that there could be a glimmer of hope... if the congresscritters weren't so damn misinformed.
A few months ago, I yukked it up at a pronouncement by SETI senior astronomer Seth Shostak about evidence for extraterrestrial life being discovered within the next twenty-five years (the joke was inspired by the old saw that workable fusion power is always "twenty years in the future"). I firmly believe that SETI is performing valuable work. I have no doubt that the inhabitants of Earth are not alone in the universe (though I do not believe that extraterrestrials have visited us). Sadly, our current government is unable to walk and chew bubblegum at the same time, and the representatives are blinded by a toxic combination of fossil fuel funds and scientific illiteracy. I hope we can vote in a more competent congress this November, and I would exhort anyone, before you cast your vote, watch these guys.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Post Lecture Recap: I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends
Last night, I headed down to the beautiful Bell House in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, for the latest Secret Science Club lecture. This month's lecture featured the triumphant return of NYU microbiologist Dr Martin Blaser. As you may recall, Dr Blaser's last lecture focused on the bacteria which live inside the human gut, with a special spotlight on the H. pylori bacterium, which is endemic to the human stomach. This month's lecture was a companion piece to Dr Blaser's new book, Missing Microbes:How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues.
Dr Blaser began his lecture with a discussion of the conundrum of early life antibiotic exposure. Each and every human being on the planet has a plethora of microbial symbionts. These symbionts are ancient- all animal lineages have them, which is evidence for such symbiotic relationships having existed among the first animals to evolve. These symbionts are "niche"- different microbes thrive in different regions of the body, with oral bacteria differing dramatically from gut bacteria, skin bacteria, and urogenital bacteria. These symbionts are persistent and conserved- after infancy, an individual's interior biome becomes remarkably stable throughout one's life. Finally, these symbionts are host-specific. Each individual has a unique microbiome. Humans harbor more bacterial cells in their bodies than "human" cells. 70-80 percent of the cells present in and on the human body are microbes. Even more dramatically, 99 percent of the genes present in the human body are microbial genes.
Dr Blaser then discussed the effects of microbial symbionts during pregnancy. Throughout pregnancy, the microbiome changes. In a study of germ-free mice introduced to bacteria taken from the gastrointestinal tracts of women in the third trimester of pregnancy, the mice gained weight and exhibited "diabetic" traits. The gut bacteria of pregnant individuals seems to "mobilize" calories in such a manner to benefit the developing fetus. The bacterial symbionts have co-evolved with the host... such coevolution can been likened to a dialogue between the host and its microbes. One of Dr Blasers main areas of inquiry is what happens when this relationship is perturbed.
A disappearing microbiota results in a changing human ecology- altered microbe composition affects physiology. The early microbiome affects development, with early antibiotic exposure correlating with the incidence of obesity. The geography of obesity and the geography of antibiotic use correlates in a very suggestive manner. It has long been known that subtherapeutic use of antibiotics will promote growth in farm animals. The earlier in life this antibiotic use occurs, the more efficient its results.
Studies indicated that the subtherapeutic antibiotic treatment (STAT) will result in greater muscle mass. Add fat to STAT, and the antibiotics pontentiate fat gain. A study was performed to determine if increased adiposity was durable with limited antibiotic exposure- administration of antibiotics for four weeks was sufficient to cause long-term adiposity. In subjects exposed to antibiotics from birth, the weight gain was more pronounced. Mice exposed to early antibiotic "treatments" down-regulated their immune systems. With time, the "fecal community" of microbes can revert to normal after the cessation of antibiotic exposure, but the effects on body mass are permanent. Antibiotic exposure need not be persistent- "pulse" doses of antibiotics are sufficient to affect immunity.
During development, an organism's stem cells receive signals from its microbial symbionts. In early life, there is a more diverse microbiome, which tends to stabilize as one grows into adulthood. One antibiotic dose can decrese microbial biodiversity, which can alter development. It is estimated that the population in the U.S. has lost 20% of its microbial biodiversity- antibacterial activities have "collateral damage".
Dr Blaser enumerated a plan to address the diminishing microbial biodiversity. Research about the consequences of overuse of antibiotics has to continue. Education about the risks of antibiotic overuse needs to proceed. The development of narrow-spectrum antibiotics which target deleterious microbes while doing minimal damage to helpful symbionts needs to be prioritized. Remediation of damaged internal biomes with probiotics needs to be promoted, with the reversal of the loss of biodiversity the end goal. Finally, the recovery of "lost" microbes needs to be investigated.
Once again, Dr Blaser delivered a thought-provoking lecture on a topic which has far-ranging implications on human health. In the Q&A session, he went into more depth on such subjects as fecal transplants. Some bastard in the audience asked about the implications of antibiotic overuse on autoimmune maladies. Dr Blaser indicated that a diminished internal biome has been implicated in some forms of asthma, and there are now studies concerning the role of a diminished microbiome in type one diabetes.
To get a taste of Dr Blaser's congenial lecturing style, here is the man himself being interviewed on The Daily Show:
For a more substantial interview, here is Dr Blaser's appearance on Leonard Lopate's radio show.
Needless to say, last night's lecture was yet another phenomenal presentation of the Secret Science Club. Here's a tip of the hat and a heartfelt thank-you to Dorian, Margaret, and the staff of the beautiful Bell House.
EDIT: Holy cats, I left out a crucial part of the lecture, having been rushed when I was composing this post. One of the most important items was a timeline of antibiotic development- as microbes evolved resistance to antibiotics (it's a simple matter of evolution- any bacteria not killed by an antibiotic will reproduce, and their descendents will be resistant). New antibiotics have been developed to counter microbial resistance, and the microbes would develop resistance to the new antibiotics. We are now at a stage where there are multiple-resistant strains of various microbes, with MRSA being a particularly pernicious example. Sorry about this lapse, folks!
Dr Blaser began his lecture with a discussion of the conundrum of early life antibiotic exposure. Each and every human being on the planet has a plethora of microbial symbionts. These symbionts are ancient- all animal lineages have them, which is evidence for such symbiotic relationships having existed among the first animals to evolve. These symbionts are "niche"- different microbes thrive in different regions of the body, with oral bacteria differing dramatically from gut bacteria, skin bacteria, and urogenital bacteria. These symbionts are persistent and conserved- after infancy, an individual's interior biome becomes remarkably stable throughout one's life. Finally, these symbionts are host-specific. Each individual has a unique microbiome. Humans harbor more bacterial cells in their bodies than "human" cells. 70-80 percent of the cells present in and on the human body are microbes. Even more dramatically, 99 percent of the genes present in the human body are microbial genes.
Dr Blaser then discussed the effects of microbial symbionts during pregnancy. Throughout pregnancy, the microbiome changes. In a study of germ-free mice introduced to bacteria taken from the gastrointestinal tracts of women in the third trimester of pregnancy, the mice gained weight and exhibited "diabetic" traits. The gut bacteria of pregnant individuals seems to "mobilize" calories in such a manner to benefit the developing fetus. The bacterial symbionts have co-evolved with the host... such coevolution can been likened to a dialogue between the host and its microbes. One of Dr Blasers main areas of inquiry is what happens when this relationship is perturbed.
A disappearing microbiota results in a changing human ecology- altered microbe composition affects physiology. The early microbiome affects development, with early antibiotic exposure correlating with the incidence of obesity. The geography of obesity and the geography of antibiotic use correlates in a very suggestive manner. It has long been known that subtherapeutic use of antibiotics will promote growth in farm animals. The earlier in life this antibiotic use occurs, the more efficient its results.
Studies indicated that the subtherapeutic antibiotic treatment (STAT) will result in greater muscle mass. Add fat to STAT, and the antibiotics pontentiate fat gain. A study was performed to determine if increased adiposity was durable with limited antibiotic exposure- administration of antibiotics for four weeks was sufficient to cause long-term adiposity. In subjects exposed to antibiotics from birth, the weight gain was more pronounced. Mice exposed to early antibiotic "treatments" down-regulated their immune systems. With time, the "fecal community" of microbes can revert to normal after the cessation of antibiotic exposure, but the effects on body mass are permanent. Antibiotic exposure need not be persistent- "pulse" doses of antibiotics are sufficient to affect immunity.
During development, an organism's stem cells receive signals from its microbial symbionts. In early life, there is a more diverse microbiome, which tends to stabilize as one grows into adulthood. One antibiotic dose can decrese microbial biodiversity, which can alter development. It is estimated that the population in the U.S. has lost 20% of its microbial biodiversity- antibacterial activities have "collateral damage".
Dr Blaser enumerated a plan to address the diminishing microbial biodiversity. Research about the consequences of overuse of antibiotics has to continue. Education about the risks of antibiotic overuse needs to proceed. The development of narrow-spectrum antibiotics which target deleterious microbes while doing minimal damage to helpful symbionts needs to be prioritized. Remediation of damaged internal biomes with probiotics needs to be promoted, with the reversal of the loss of biodiversity the end goal. Finally, the recovery of "lost" microbes needs to be investigated.
Once again, Dr Blaser delivered a thought-provoking lecture on a topic which has far-ranging implications on human health. In the Q&A session, he went into more depth on such subjects as fecal transplants. Some bastard in the audience asked about the implications of antibiotic overuse on autoimmune maladies. Dr Blaser indicated that a diminished internal biome has been implicated in some forms of asthma, and there are now studies concerning the role of a diminished microbiome in type one diabetes.
To get a taste of Dr Blaser's congenial lecturing style, here is the man himself being interviewed on The Daily Show:
For a more substantial interview, here is Dr Blaser's appearance on Leonard Lopate's radio show.
Needless to say, last night's lecture was yet another phenomenal presentation of the Secret Science Club. Here's a tip of the hat and a heartfelt thank-you to Dorian, Margaret, and the staff of the beautiful Bell House.
EDIT: Holy cats, I left out a crucial part of the lecture, having been rushed when I was composing this post. One of the most important items was a timeline of antibiotic development- as microbes evolved resistance to antibiotics (it's a simple matter of evolution- any bacteria not killed by an antibiotic will reproduce, and their descendents will be resistant). New antibiotics have been developed to counter microbial resistance, and the microbes would develop resistance to the new antibiotics. We are now at a stage where there are multiple-resistant strains of various microbes, with MRSA being a particularly pernicious example. Sorry about this lapse, folks!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
