BioBlog

nuremberg, and history

Alison Campbell • Nov 18, 2021

• ethics,
• History,
• medicine,
• New Zealand stories

  There’s a lot been said recently about the Nuremberg code. So what is it, and why is it popping up now? As described in this excellent NEJM article, the Code was developed over 80 years ago in August 1947, by judges involved in the “Doctors Trial” at Nuremberg. There were a total of 13 court trials at Nuremberg: the … Read More

trends in human evolution – the shoulder

Alison Campbell • Sep 07, 2021

• evolution,
• human evolution,
• New Zealand stories

Humans are the only living hominid that can throw objects accurately & at speed – while some of the other great apes can throw objects, their speed & accuracy is not the best. (In his musing on human evolution, Darwin noted that adaptations allowing this would be at a selective advantage as they would increase hunting effectiveness.) I found … Read More

what is the “magneto” protein, & why are references to a 2016 paper suddenly in my feed?

Alison Campbell • Jul 05, 2021

• magnetism,
• New Zealand stories,
• vaccination

A few days back an article in The Guardian popped up in my newsfeed. It was quite old – published in 2016 – but it looked interesting, so I read it & also tracked down the original paper. The article & research paper describe work done to develop and test a potential tool for unpicking and understanding the … Read More

kary mullis, pcr, & covid tests

Alison Campbell • May 19, 2021

• covid tests,
• DNA,
• history of science,
• New Zealand stories,
• patents,
• PCR

You’ve probably come across the name Kary Mullis recently, via social media. He’s best remembered for his invention (along with a team of other researchers) of the Polymerase Chain Reaction, or PCR for short (and for many biology students was probably immortalised in their memories via this earworm of an advertisement¹). This turned out to be a very powerful … Read More

covid-19 infection and how the spike protein is involved in doing harm

Alison Campbell • May 05, 2021

• COVID-19,
• New Zealand stories,
• vaccines

  Just this morning a journalist sent me a link to a press release about a new paper looking at how SARS-Cov-2 affects the vascular system, & asked to comment on it for a article. If you’d like to read the actual paper you can find it here, but be aware that it does get complex in places … Read More

on Plan B’s support for an anti-vaccine court case

Alison Campbell • Apr 26, 2021

• COVID-19,
• New Zealand stories,
• vaccination

Some of my readers may be aware that Nelson lawyer Sue Grey is taking a case to the NZ High Court in an attempt to stop the roll-out of the Pfizer vaccine. I don’t agree with her stance, but she has every right to do this. However, I was more than a little surprised to see that one of the … Read More

sam bailey on isolating viruses, and why she is wrong

Alison Campbell • Apr 19, 2021

• COVID-19,
• misinformation,
• New Zealand stories

Recently I was told I needed to go to the Youtube channel of Dr Sam BaileyA and watch one of her videosB. So I did. This particular video is called The Truth About Virus Isolation, and yes it’s on Youtube, and no I’m not linking directly because I refuse to link to such a misleading channel. It’s ostensibly about the … Read More

why it’s important to check sources

Alison Campbell • Apr 17, 2021

• COVID-19,
• misinformation,
• New Zealand stories,
• preprints

While checking my spam folder (before yeeting the contents permanently) I noticed that I’d been sent a bunch of email ‘newsletters’ from the group “Voices for Freedom.” Out of interest I opened one, just in case the contents were worth a post or two – & indeed they were. The writers of the newsletter state that “And we take it … Read More

so much misinformation on a page supposedly about health

Alison Campbell • Apr 15, 2021

• COVID-19,
• misinformation,
• New Zealand stories,
• vaccination

It’s always something of a shock to come across a page run by a health-focused business that contains substantial misinformation. This one left me gobsmacked, given the sheer number of statements that are demonstrably untrue. And while a fair bit of the content is prefaced by the statement that it’s the personal opinion of one individual, the fact that … Read More

we haven’t taught critical thinking particularly well

Alison Campbell • Apr 14, 2021

• critical thinking,
• New Zealand stories,
• research

  Yesterday I got told to “do some research” &, by extension, to think critically. The biologist in me cringed a little when I read it (and not because of the advice about doing research). Biology teachers I know suggested that perhaps everyone should take the NCEA standard that lets students learn about the basic genetics that … Read More