Guest Thinkers — July 26, 2011

New York Owl Felled By Herpes

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

City investigators have determined that a great horned own found dead in Inwood Hill Park last month succumbed to avian herpes.

The virus is not transmissible to humans.

[Photo credit: Great horned owl by Vicki’s Nature, Creative Commons.]

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Large hall with rows of hospital beds occupied by patients and attended by medical staff, likely during an early 20th-century medical crisis.

Health

The dangers of keeping epidemiology the “hidden science”

Caitlin Rivers wants to tell the story of epidemiology and the public health heroes who keep the world safe and healthy.

A person in protective gear cautiously holds a white chicken inside a controlled environment chamber, underscoring precautions against bird flu.

Health

Decoding bird flu: New research reveals potential route for human infection

Differences in certain avian and mammalian proteins explain why avian influenza doesn’t (typically) infect humans.

The Future

How Arc Institute is bringing science into the century of biology

There is one obstacle that reliably blocks innovative ideas: how we fund science.

A collage featuring the text "Forgotten Hardships," images of a struggling family, a graph, a historical farming scene, hands with a skin condition, and an illustration of a caliper.

The Past

Life was dirty, difficult, and dangerous for almost everyone who ever existed

9 minutes of cruel history may cure the anti-progress delusion.

Ancient stone structure with stairs under a blue sky with scattered clouds, surrounded by vegetation.

The Past

A beginner’s guide to sociopolitical collapse

How (not) to end up in the ash heap of history.

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