by Dish Staff Three American missionaries who worked with Ebola patients in Liberia were immediately placed under quarantine when they returned to the US Sunday. Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley mull over the legality of such a move: The legal theorist Jennifer Elsea has drawn parallels between the rights of the quarantined and those of American citizens who have been deemed “enemy combatants.” Both … Continue reading Quarantine As A Civil-Liberties Issue
by Dish Staff Charles Kenny remarks that new Ebola treatments are in the works only because “the Department of Defense had taken interest in the disease as a bioterror threat and was financing development of the drug ZMapp as a potential response”: Ebola is the exception: Only a little more than 1 percent of new drugs approved between 1975 and 2004 were … Continue reading The Diseases We Neglect
Israel launches air strikes across Gaza in response to Palestinian rockets: http://t.co/IkTGha3s5d pic.twitter.com/DdMPqMtYWq — Reuters Top News (@Reuters) August 8, 2014 The ceasefire is over and fighting started again this morning: Gaza militants resumed rocket attacks on Israel on Friday, refusing to extend a three-day truce after Egyptian-brokered talks between Israel and Hamas on a new border deal for … Continue reading Back To War In Gaza
Dr. Kent Brantly, a US citizen who contracted ebola in Liberia, was evacuated to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on Saturday for treatment in a special isolation unit. His colleague Nancy Writebol is also expected to arrive there this week. The usual suspects are busy fearmongering: The U.S. must immediately stop all flights from EBOLA infected countries … Continue reading Patient Zero? Not So Fast
Is it ethical to conduct experiments on captive chimpanzees to help others survive in the wild? Ed Yong’s take: In February 2011, a team of scientists led by Peter Walsh at the University of Cambridge injected six captive chimpanzees with an experimental vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus. At first glance, the study looked like a lot of other … Continue reading Animal Testing For Animals’ Sake
Michael Byrne flags a study on pharmaceutical researchers neglecting the needs of developing countries: Pursuing drugs benefiting mostly an elderly population is essentially a stand-in for pursuing drugs benefiting a first-world population, where people live a long time and die slowly of things like cancer, COPD, or heart disease (to name the three biggest killers). In the developing world, people … Continue reading The Drug Developed World
It sounded vague in the abstract, so check out the actual result: “Vox Cards” that act as instant primers on the background of an issue: They’re inspired by the highlighters and index cards that some of us used in school to remember important information. You’ll find them attached to articles, where they add crucial context; … Continue reading Vox’s “Explanatory Journalism” Explained
2-year-old Jack Rigby is comforted by his mother Rebecca as the coffin of his father Fusilier Lee Rigby leaves Bury Parish Church after a military funeral on July 12, 2013 in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers soldier was killed whilst off duty near Woolwich Barracks in South-East London in May. Islamist … Continue reading Face Of The Day
Diego von Vocano examines the protests in Brazil – covered extensively by Dish readers here – through the evolution of its national team over the past 40 years: In the 1980s, Socrates was one of Brazil’s best futebol (soccer) players. With flowing hair, long limbs, and often wearing a bandanna and a jersey with the word “democracia” … Continue reading Blemishing The Beautiful Game
As you know by now, Public Policy Polling's had some fun with the latest numbers (pdf) on Congress' popularity. Respondents were asked whether they had a higher opinion of Congress or 26 various items. The news wasn't all bad though:
By relatively close margins [Congress] beats out Lindsey Lohan (45/41), playground bullies (43/38), and telemarketers (45/35). And it posts wider margins over the Kardashians (49/36), John Edwards (45/29), lobbyists (48/30), Fidel Castro (54/32), Gonorrhea (53/28), Ebola (53/25), Communism (57/23), North Korea (61/26), and meth labs (60/21)
At least you can cure gonorrhea. Congress seems unfixable. Andrew Gelman wonders if it's a spoof: "But all those crosstabs . . . they look real. So I don’t know what to think." Pareene points to the latest reason to lampoon Congress:
