Peter Griffin • Aug 04, 2014 •
A lot of people in the scientific community are struggling to come to terms with the death of Antarctic historian and museum curator Natalie Cadenhead, who died at Christchurch Hospital on July 24 of influenza. Natalie was only 47, a fit and healthy tramper as this report from The Press explains. She didn’t get the flu vaccine, because, … Read More
Peter Griffin • Jun 29, 2012 •
On the Sciblogs podcast this week we look at the progress made on Digital Earth initiatives like Google Earth – what’s in store for the next generation of Earth visualisation and simulation platforms? We talk to Sciblogger Ken Perrott about new data from the 2011 Australian census that shows more Aussies are ditching religion and we … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Oct 02, 2010 •
Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article I was amused to see this article is the Herald yesterday. Talk about trying to rehash old news… Two more deaths but swine flu cases fall Twenty deaths this year have been swine flu-related but health authorities say the [...] Related posts: … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Aug 23, 2010 •
This article is an opinion piece. I am not lawyer or medic. If you think my title looks like one of those lists in IQ tests were they get you to pick the odd one out, you’d be right, only this time one the question is what is missing? If you thought … Read More
Peter Griffin • Aug 20, 2010 •
If you watched the 60 Minutes item Living Proof on Wednesday night, you’ll no doubt agree that King Country farmer Alan Smith is lucky to be alive. Acutely affected by the H1N1 virus, Smith lay in intensive care close to death, an ECMO machine battling to keep his fluid-filled lungs functioning. As Mike … Read More
Peter Griffin • Aug 17, 2010 •
The weekend’s Skeptics conference was a refreshing reminder that there are sharp-witted people in New Zealand interested in rational thought and with a healthy disdain for pseudo-scientific claims, quackery and silly beliefs. Some of the conference sessions are available as podcasts over at the Science Media Centre website – more are to come as soon as I find … Read More
Peter Griffin • Jun 08, 2010 •
This just came through from the World Health Organisation, which is clearly smarting after concerns were raised by the British Medical Journal about key pandemic advisors to the WHO having links to pharmaceutical companies that weren’t publicly disclosed. WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION LETTER TO BMJ EDITORS Below you will find a copy of the letter Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General … Read More
Jim McVeagh • May 22, 2010 •
The Herald reports that a report by Martin Dawe of the first two weeks of the Swine Flu epidemic is intensely critical of the lack of planning and poor coordination of data resources. This was the MacDoctor’s impression of the entire debacle. I knew of a potentially deadly strain of Mexican flu three days before [...] Related posts: … Read More
Peter Griffin • Apr 26, 2010 •
This time a year ago, the media was going big on one particular story – SWINE FLU! News stories today report intensive care units across New Zealand and Australia were on the verge of turning away seriously ill patients during the pandemic, due to a twelve-fold increase in the number of flu patients being put into … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Apr 23, 2010 •
Australia’s chief medical officer, Jim Bishop has announced that children under five years old should not receive the flu vaccine. Apparently at least 60 children under the age of 5 have had high fevers and 23 have had convulsions shortly after receiving the vaccine. I have not heard any advisory from the New Zealand authorities [...] Related posts: … Read More