bamboozled 2024

“Definition: Conspiracy Theory
—A belief that the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community, who have spent their lives researching the subject, missed something you figured out in two minutes due to your superior Google researching skills.” —Meanwhile in Canada

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” —Carl Sagan (1995) The Demon-haunted World

“I recently purchased a CO₂ monitor (an Aranet4, which works nicely and is designed with just shocking good sense and practicality, great device).
One interesting pattern I notice: CO₂ is consistently lower in campus spaces at Macalester [College, MN, USA] than it is in almost any other indoor space — including even my own house when I’m the only person in it.
Why? Well…
Macalester did a systematic audit of ventilation across campus and made HVAC adjustments across campus to improve filtration, increase ACH, etc etc, in response to the possibility that COVID is airborne … in summer 2020.
Not 2021. In 2020. Before aerosol transmission was clearly established. Before the WHO and the CDC were even admitting COVID could travel more than 6 feet. Summer of 2020.
And apparently improved ventilation is still in effect now.
Don’t tell me better isn’t possible.”
—Paul Cantrell

Scientific American — Covid-19 leaves its mark on the brain

“In addition to brain fog, COVID-19 can lead to an array of problems, including headaches, seizure disorders, strokes, sleep problems, and tingling and paralysis of the nerves, as well as several mental health disorders.

A large and growing body of evidence amassed throughout the pandemic details the many ways that COVID-19 leaves an indelible mark on the brain. But the specific pathways by which the virus does so are still being elucidated, and curative treatments are nonexistent.”

The Tyee — How an Underdog Biochemist Won a Nobel Prize

“Science interests governments only for its political value. Whether in Hungary or in the United States, [Katalin] Karikó [Nobel Prize winner in physiology or medicine 2023] had to break through political barriers while working in institutions that relied on government or private funding. Despite her stubborn work ethic and understanding of science, her achievements ultimately depended on luck — and good child care.”

Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice — Vaccine disinformation from medical professionals — a case for action from regulatory bodies?

“Regulatory action against doctors will not solve the complex problem of rising anti-vaccine sentiment among the lay public. But a rebuke from the regulator, should an investigation deem this appropriate, will send a clear signal to the public that a doctor has been judged to have acted inappropriately, which will help limit audience reach and mitigate potential harms. This is especially critical in the current era, as medical influencers have vast reach and social media companies may be motivated by the revenue from misinformation circulating on their platforms.”

Cartoon by Jen Sorensen

“An oldie but a goodie:
What did Watson and Crick discover?
Rosalind Franklin’s lab notes.”
—@Coral