Every Thursday evening during the fall of 1979, I’d cycle across the Charles River from Boston’s North End to the Museum of Science for a series of free lectures. Carl Sagan, Lynn Margulis and Philip Morrison entertained and inspired, but none more so than Frank Drake. He’s best known for the “Drake Equation,” a back-of-the-envelope […]
Barry Evans
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Is the Great Wall Visible from Space?
“… The Chinese Wall, which makes a considerable figure on the terrestrial globe, and may be discerned at the moon.” Such was the opinion of Rev. William Stukeley (1687-1785), who was as wrong about seeing the Great Wall of China from the moon as he was about Druids building Stonehenge. No matter; it’s a good […]
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Nine Puzzles
This time of year in the Journal means puzzles in Field Notes. Given the sheltering situation these days, it might be more important than usual to exercise your brain muscles, in the event the lockdown is making those 86 billion neurons in your skull to atrophy (trust me, I counted). If you have trouble with […]
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Vaccine Mirage?
In theory, a vaccine is simple: It induces the body to create antibodies to a particular virus. When that virus enters the body, the immune system will recognize it and block it from harming the host. Of course, the vaccine itself must be harmless, hence the twin goals of vaccine development: effectiveness and safety. Traditionally, […]
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Coronaviruses and Bioweapons
Despite researchers showing that SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the current pandemic, was not created in a lab in Wuhan, China, polls show that nearly half of all Americans prefer the rumors to science. Predictably, much depends on one’s political persuasion: Twice as many Republicans believe this is either definitely or probably true. So, once again […]
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Nine COVID-19 Myths
I know, I know. Articles on myths about coronavirus have been done to death. Yet every day the Whack-a-Mole claims pop up again — conspiracy stories, China, Big Pharma, what to eat to prevent infection, the vaccine just around the corner … Here, I’ll try to shine a light on some of the more prevalent […]
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Hydroxychloroquine: Dangerous Medicine?
Donald Trump, May 19, 2020: “Couple weeks ago I started taking [hydroxychloroquine]. Cause I think it is good. I have heard a lot of good stories. And if it is not good, I will tell you, all right, I am not going to get hurt by it.” Let’s rewind from the present: May 26: Due […]
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Nature or Nurture?
Last week I discussed linguist Noam Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar, the idea that we’re all born with some sort of “language module” that we adapt, at a very early age, to the language in which we’re being raised. Here, I’m going to go into some detail to discuss a particular and tricky bit of […]
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Language: Nature or Nurture? (Part 1 of 2)
“The linguist who does not display at least token interest in the Chomskyian endeavor is not considered ‘a linguist linguist.’” — John McWhorter Forty years ago, while living in Boston, I started to worry that I’d inadvertently joined a cult. I was taking an introductory linguistics class and our teacher, a distinguished Harvard professor of […]
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Blame Evolution
Many conspiracy theorists, who seem to make up about half the posters I’m seeing on Facebook these days, have glommed onto the idea that SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus causing the COVID-19 epidemic) was engineered in a lab. Where? Wuhan, China. Why? To cull China’s aging population and to sow chaos around the world. You’ll be relieved […]
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The 12-Second Life
Human lives generally last for 2 billion to 3 billion seconds; the universe is nearly 14 billion years old. Looking at those two statements on my laptop, I feel slightly giddy. I have a faint whiff of what the first statement means and very little understanding of the second. If you feel the same, here’s […]
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Railroad to the East
Humboldt has surely seen its fair share of far-fetched schemes: huge bladders full of Mad River water to be towed to Southern California; buoys to harness wave power for electricity (“Wave Power,” Oct. 23, 2008); a stuffed animal museum; an aircraft carrier tourist venue. One of the more venerable boondoggles, dating back more than a […]