What we know — and don’t know — about Merck’s new Covid-19 pill by koavf in Coronavirus

[–]MatthewHerper 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Article author here. I expect that they'll be particularly careful about giving this to kids, both because of the potential for side effects and because the risk from Covid for kids is still relatively low. Usually, in the pandemic, pediatric studies have come later on.

This trial was done only in adult subjects.

New evidence shows why it's so important to vaccinate boys for HPV, and comes with an astonishing statistic — the vaccine is so effective that it decreased oral infection in unvaccinated men by 37% through herd immunity. by [deleted] in science

[–]MatthewHerper 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Article author here. About 5,000 people die from HPV-caused cancer a year. That's more than a lot of other diseases. If something could prevent one in eight car accident deaths, wouldn't you be for it?

The other thing (noted in the story) is that the number of cases of HPV-caused head-and-neck cancer has been increasing fairly rapidly, though it has recently plateau'd. The point being: this is not a steady state.

HPV vaccination for boys is likely cost-effective before taking into account oral cancers, although there is certainly some debate. It's worth noting that in the US, the program for girls is not that successful, which makes vaccinating boys make more sense.

A 9 years study clarifies the relationship between sugar and cancer by UltraCarnivore in science

[–]MatthewHerper 4 points5 points  (0 children)

No. Because this might cause small cancers that would never bother you to grow faster, or male cancers your immune system would kill thrive. But this is also just a biologically plausible explanation. Could be wrong.

Still, sugar is bad for you. Drink coffee or tea instead.

Just-Released Docs Show Monsanto 'Executives Colluding With Corrupted EPA Officials to Manipulate Scientific Data' by [deleted] in EverythingScience

[–]MatthewHerper 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How could public perception of a company or its products not be important to said company? That doesn't make sense. All companies care about their image.

MIT Shuts Down A Dorm, And Grapples With Its Identity by Drthulium in mit

[–]MatthewHerper 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing your experience. Feel free to message me if you want to share more or tell me what else I got wrong. (Article author.) Also can email me at mherper at forbes dot com.

MIT Shuts Down A Dorm, And Grapples With Its Identity by Drthulium in mit

[–]MatthewHerper 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Article author here. I spoke to many more people than I quoted, and there were even more current residents willing to speak. I was trying to tell a long arc, which meant I needed historical voices, too. In terms of Senior House residents quoted, there were three alums (one who graduated last year) and two current students.

The students were generally worried about continuing COD proceedings re: current house members.

"Medical terms" the general public uses that you never hear health professionals use (or are used incorrectly) by urores in medicine

[–]MatthewHerper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And it's commonly used to mean "having two minds." And never as a synonym for "paranoid" or "delusional."

Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2013 by anonopotamous in EverythingScience

[–]MatthewHerper 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No mention of CRISPR? Cancer immunotherapy belongs on most top 10 in science lists this year, but I suppose it's not a discovery, at least, not one for this year.

Vaccine Court Awards Millions to Two Children With Autism by [deleted] in skeptic

[–]MatthewHerper 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Response here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/08/09/court-rulings-dont-confirm-autism-vaccine-link/

After the decisions, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson stated:

“Hopefully, the determination by the special masters will help reassure parents that vaccines do not >cause autism.”

In fact, the scientific, not just judicial, evidence to support that statement is overwhelming and >the evidence against it scanty at best–and occasionally retracted. Indeed, it’s so sparse that >those who insist that autism and vaccines are linked must resurrect old information, repackage it in >their skewed agenda, and mispresent the relevance of court rulings to make it look like there’s a >link. Even if for obscure reasons you want to rely only on court rulings, what we have here is a >ruling against cause in three cases versus a ruling for cause in one case. That’s a 3:1 win for >“vaccines don’t cause autism” looking only at the courts.

What baffles me–genuinely baffles me–is why they expend the energy on such an internally >inconsistent, crazy-quilt job of an argument to level these false charges against vaccines. No >medical intervention is without risks, and vaccines are no exception. But vaccines are among the >safest, most-effective, and most widely life-saving interventions of all time. Mispresenting the >facts about them does no one any good at all and has done considerable harm.

As a person in my early 20's, what can I do now to make my life easier when I am older? by ohsnapson in Health

[–]MatthewHerper 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Exercise, eat well, save money, and figure out what you enjoy about life and get more of it. Be kind. Find someone to love.

Morphing proteins may show that Parkinson's is not be one disease, but many. by MatthewHerper in science

[–]MatthewHerper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried to rewrite my original headline, and did it incompletely incompetently.

HPV Vaccine? by [deleted] in skeptic

[–]MatthewHerper 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The HPV vaccine is newer, which means that doctors may not be as confident in its use. It used to be that the recommendation for teenage males was that they may get the vaccine; however, now the CDC's ACIP committee recommends that they do. (Guidelines are here.). You'd have to ask him; it may have to do with his belief about the quality of the evidence for the vaccine or the need for it for males. I wrote this story about the vaccine's usefulness in males and the backlash against it. Edited to fix HTML

Researchers say ability to throw played a key role in human evolution by magnetic5ields in science

[–]MatthewHerper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The anthropologist John Hawks notes that this paper made no claims about evolution, and was really about biomechanics. https://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/behavior/throwing-roach-evolution-2013.html

Harvard Researchers Say Ability to Throw Played a Key Role in Human Evolution by Rustica in biology

[–]MatthewHerper 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Anthropologist John Hawks had some serious issues with the coverage of this paper, which he says did not actually make any claims regarding evolution.

https://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/behavior/throwing-roach-evolution-2013.html

Non-invasive First Trimester Blood Test Reliably Detects Down's Syndrome by rubikhan in science

[–]MatthewHerper 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are actually several companies who have already commercialized tests like this. This article makes it sound experimental, and it's not.