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I just finished reading “Atoms to ashes: A global history of nuclear disasters” by Harvard history professor Serhii Plokhy. The book provides detailed accounts of six major nuclear accidents:     • The Castle Bravo Test (1954), a hydrogen bomb test on the Bikini Atoll that was more powerful than expected;   • The Kyshtym Disaster (1957), a nuclear waste tank explosion in the USSR;   • The Windscale Fire (1957), the worst nuclear accident in UK history;   • Three Mile Island (1979), a partial meltdown at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania;   • Chernobyl (1986), a reactor meltdown in Soviet Ukraine caused by a flawed design;   • Fukushima (2011), a major radiation release in Japan caused by an earthquake and tsunami.   The technological explanations here are lucid and helpful to a lay reader. For example, this is the first time I heard about “Wigner energy,” a form of potential energy that accumulates in graphite-moderated reactors when atom...

Xi’s China is so far defying gravity. Despite its history of despotic autocratic party rule, Xi has managed to govern in a way that has promoted economic strength while projecting international resilience. Xi has kept his eye on the ball, while Trump has kept one eye on the mirror and the other on Fox News, appointing loyal incompetents and relying on party subservience to mask the consequences. “ While strategists in Washington debate whether China has peaked, their counterparts in China are having an analogous debate about the United States—and reaching strikingly similar conclusions. China’s state media has diagnosed the United States with “hegemonic anxiety,” suggesting that Washington cannot cope with the possibility that it must face a multipolar world. And whereas U.S. thinkers such as  Hal Brands  have argued in their analyses of China that a power that has peaked is likely to lash out in violent ways, Chinese observers independently conclude that it is Washington that...

As soon as I started college, I grew a mustache. Back then, facial hair on college men was common. My mustache was pale and thin back then.   Partway through grad school, I fell ill for about a week, and after recovering, I just let the beard that grew out continue. I never went full lumberjack, but I never shaved it off either. Our pretty boy Sec Def Pete Hegseth abhors facial hair.  “ Hegseth also issued a memo last month directing the U.S. military to only issue temporary issues for medical conditions like pseudofolliculitis barbae, a painful skin condition common among Black men that can cause scarring which is exacerbated by shaving. Prior to Hegseth's order, such waivers were often issued for five-year increments.   “According to  Military.com , soldiers who require the longer waivers may be ordered to get laser treatments or risk getting kicked out of the military altogether. America is going to lose brave, capable troops based solely on arbitrary aesthetic st...

“ In the last couple of weeks, the questions about Jews, Israel and Zohran Mamdani have rushed back into the news. It began with a dramatic speech from the pulpit from the rabbi of a prominent New York City synagogue, Elliot Cosgrove, and it’s been kept in the news by a public letter signed by 600 or so rabbis and cantors. I don’t know how much this has broken through into the mainstream press but it’s been on a loud speaker in Jewish communal publications. Cosgrove began his speech (you can call it a sermon if you want) saying he believes “Zohran Mamdani poses a danger to the security of the New York Jewish community” and a “danger to the Jewish body politic of New York City.” Look, you may disagree with Mamdani about Israel and Zionism, but claiming that his beliefs on those issues are an existential threat to the New York Jewish Community is just bullshit. You know who is a threat to the Jewish body politic of New York City? Donald Trump and his followers. Mamdani is running for may...

The current attack on ultra processed foods by RFK Jr is just a simpleminded binary. He’s treating food as medicine and then vilifying certain ingredients as bad or dangerous. What do you expect from someone with no training in public health? Take food coloring. Ever look at the pills you take: Advil, decongestant, laxative? Those colors are artificial. How are they safer than the same dyes added to breakfast cereals? Did you know that most baked goods contain acrylamide, a neurotoxin? Did you know that most commercial rice in the US has significant levels of arsenic? Did you know that grilled meats contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which include known carcinogens?   “ In reference to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign targeting UPFs, David Ludwig, MD, PhD, a professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, wrote in the  Washington Post , "Ultra-processed food has replaced fat as the new dietary villain...The rush to enact these measures could cause more ...

Quotable fascist gasbag Bannon says that Trump will have a 3 rd   term as president. How is that possible? The Constitution says nobody can be *elected* as POTUS for more than two terms. (1) Trump could declare martial law and suspend elections. His SCOTUS majority would support it.   (2) The Gerry Ford pathway. Recall that Ford wasn't elected president or VP. Ford was *appointed* VP when Agnew resigned, then became president when Nixon resigned. No election. So if the Republicans win the presidential election in 2028, the VP could resign and the president could appoint Trump as VP. Then the president could resign and Trump could succeed him.   The Constitution only says nobody can be "elected" to the presidency more than twice. It doesn't prohibit appointment and succession. Is this what Bannon is thinking? Who knows?

The Republicans control the White House, a majority in both houses of Congress and a majority of votes on the Supreme Court. The notion that the Democrats are responsible for the shutdown is risible. Wait, what about the filibuster, you say? LOL! The Republicans could eliminate the filibuster any time. They won’t because they know they’ll need it if they lose their senate majority. OK, so if they leave the filibuster intact, why should Democrats negotiate when they know that any spending agreement will just be overridden by Trump, who will either withhold the funds or spend them on something else? As long as Trump is free to violate any legally binding agreement—which his SCOTUS says he is—why bother negotiating? Wait, Congress could impeach him for violating any spending agreement. LOL! Trump was impeached twice without effect. Impeachment is merely an indictment. Conviction and removal from office requires a supermajority vote in the Senate. That will happen co-terminus with the firs...

As a PhD student in genetics, my fellow grad students and I didn’t think the human genome would be sequenced in our lifetime. In the event, I got *my* genome sequenced years ago for $200. I’m happy to have been wrong. My point here is that prophecy about future technology is risky. So, what about self-driving cars? “ You can have a modest taxi fleet, but you can't scale that too much. Personal cars definitely won't function like that . . . Drivers are cheap! True self-driving vehicles would be a neat invention, but the case for 96% self-driving is less obvious.” Nobody died from genome sequencing. People die in car accidents. Do you want to be that person? https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/10/blogger-accountability.html

Personally, I think all inheritances should be taxed as income from the first dollar. If I inherit money, it’s effectively income. If you want your kids to have your money tax-free, give it to them before you die.   If you have a household wealth of $2 million, you are in the top 10% of American households. Having more wealth than 90% of Americans means you are, by definition, wealthy. If your heirs must pay up to a 15% tax on the amount over $2 million that they didn’t earn, I have zero sympathy. “Last week,   Chamber chief executive Jim Rooney wrote to Governor Maura Healey, House Speaker Ron Mariano, and Senate President Karen Spilka, urging them to adopt another tax reform bill to build on  the one Healey signed in 2023 .   “Chief among the requested changes is ending the state’s estate tax, which kicks in if an individual dies and leaves assets to heirs totaling more than $2 million in value. The chamber also wants to see business taxes and short-term capital ga...

One of the bizarre features of American healthcare is that oral health is treated separately from the rest of healthcare.   “ Key Takeaways Periodontal disease was linked to increased white matter damage, raising concerns for brain health. Poor oral health also raised the risk of ischemic stroke and major cardiovascular events. Neurologists were urged to include oral health as part of comprehensive brain disease prevention.” Apparently, this is an historical artifact; medicine and dentistry evolved separately. It’s high time we treat oral health like the rest of health for insurance purposes.   http://medpagetoday.com/neurology/generalneurology/118095?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2025-10-22&mh=eb71348a5ff6ae370cc6759bc5dc3300&zdee=gAAAAABm4u1YoCP4y5SBTJUyUyqo9KxZhft26L1xeGdP0BzzQQN1Pb_ifR6vFqhFh-3U6Q_nU7DbA-EawzzXKxSRhMOwjrOGuOKbf7OE641eN0HfnK6eObE%3D&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%20Evening%20-%20Randomized%202025-10-22&utm_term=...

Asthma and hay fever rates among people who grew up in the former West Germany are significantly higher than among people who grew up in the former East Germany.  In the GDR, factors like less pet ownership, different nutritional patterns, and exposure to pollutants like coal and wood smoke were linked to lower rates of some allergies. So childhood exposure to certain antigens can protect against allergies in later life.   This also applies to dietary allergens. “A decade after a landmark study proved that feeding peanut products to young babies could prevent development of life-threatening allergies, new research finds the change has made a big difference in the real world.   “About 60,000 children have avoided developing peanut allergies after guidance first issued in 2015 upended medical practice by recommending introducing the allergen to infants starting as early as 4 months.” https://www.nbcboston.com/news/health/feed-babies-peanuts-early-avoids-allergies-study...

Preparing for old age needs to start when you’re young. Life habits of regular exercise, healthy diet, regular medical and dental check-ups, challenging mental activity and healthy social life. The goal is a long healthspan, not just a long lifespan. Financial planning is also important. Wealth and health are statistically correlated. “ The wealthiest older Americans can expect   an extra nine years of life,   on average, compared to the poorest, a team of Massachusetts researchers concluded in a new report. And that wealth and death gap will only widen, the researchers say, with nearly a trillion dollars in federal cuts to the nation’s health care system coming in the next decade.   “At the same time, another Massachusetts team has found that most Americans are   ill prepared for their senior years , with many not planning for the type of care, housing, finances, and health services they are likely to need as they age in this rapidly changing landscape.” https://www...

Folks who had chicken pox as a child are at risk for shingles. In its extreme manifestation, shingles patients suffer pain to the point of suicidal ideation. The good news is that there’s a vaccine for that. And it not only prevents shingles. “ Having shingles boosted the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) such as vascular dementia, heart attack, stroke, and death by roughly a quarter -- but people who received the recombinant shingles vaccine before developing shingles saw their risks of those outcomes drop by up to half, according to a large retrospective study.   “Among more than 174,000 people, ages 50 or older, those who developed a herpes zoster infection were approximately 20% more likely to have a heart attack, 27% more likely to have a stroke, and up to 30% more likely to die than people who didn't develop shingles, reported Ali Dehghani, DO, of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. "Zoster infection has been viewed as just a simple rash that a...

Cryptocurrencies are a manifestation of The Greater Fool Theory of investing. A justification for cryptocurrencies is that they are unmoored from any government-regulated currency. Their primary utility, it turns out, is funding criminal activities. Stablecoins are a form of cryptocurrency linked to a government currency (the dollar, the rouble, etc). Of course, tethering the value of stablecoin to a bona fide currency does violence to the idea of cryptocurrency independence. The only independence is the exchange rate. Who, exactly, is controlling how much stablecoin is minted? “Paxos, the blockchain partner of   PayPal , mistakenly minted $300 trillion worth of the online payment giant’s stablecoin on Wednesday in what the company called a “technical error.”    “Market watchers had spotted the enormous injection of the PayPal PYUSD stablecoin on   Etherscan   — a block explorer and analytics platform for the Ethereum blockchain.   “Paxos had mistakenly min...

When we visited Rhode Island in April 2022 on a house-hunting trip, the housing market was red hot. We made offers on three houses, all in Providence. For the first, we made a cash offer but conditioned on inspection. That offer was immediately rejected. Our other two offers didn’t stipulate inspection, but we were out-bid. In the event, we eventually bought our current house without an inspection and boy were there problems. Some might not have been found by an inspector, but many would have. We’ve probably spent over $40,000 making repairs. Home buyers in Massachusetts won’t confront this issue now. “Starting with contracts entered into on or after Wednesday, sellers are barred from conditioning the acceptance of an offer to purchase on the buyer’s agreement to waive, limit, restrict, or otherwise forego their right to have the property inspected. Buyers do not have to conduct an inspection, but they are banned from letting sellers know before an offer is accepted that they intend to...

In his continuous effort to control the media cycle and distract from the Epstein files, Trump has been threatening China on and off with huge tariffs.     But as usual, it looks like it’s bluster. Why? “ America has made an unusually directional economic bet that is at this   moment totally dependent on Chinese rare earth exports. The circumstances that brought us here long predate Trump and are rooted in decades-long failures to retain our technological know-how and channel it into industrial production. It’s never too late for a wake-up call, but the country is in a terribly vulnerable position where China can snap its fingers and snuff out the only thing propping up our economy.   “The bet I’m talking about, of course,   is on artificial intelligence, and the astronomical buildout of infrastructure, mainly data centers.   Close to half of the gain in gross domestic product   this year will come from data center construction, and   around 80 pe...

I’ve written previously about the shortage of primary care physicians in the US. In principle, one way to address this shortage is to admit more international medical graduates as physicians. But an historic barrier to this solution is the requirement for US residency training. Some states are passing laws allowing international medical graduates if they requirements pass certain USMLE exams, demonstrate English proficiency and working under supervision in an underserved area.   However, the Trump administration is about to throw up another barrier: “ . . . President Trump’s September 19 H1-B executive order will upend this system. Hospitals that rely heavily on immigrant physicians — especially rural and safety-net institutions already under financial strain — won’t be able to absorb the additional   financial burden of visa sponsorship , which is set to jump from roughly $2,000 – $5,000 to $100,000 per immigrant physician.” One way to resolve this is to waive the $100K visa ...

Back in the mid-80s I started a personal project of reading history. I was motivated by the desire to understand the differences between my world view and that of my father’s generation. I started with the Vietnam war. I got a draft card at 18 and my number was pulled when I was 19, but the draft ended before my cohort was called up, so my political awakening was very much shaped by that war. After reading a couple of histories of the Vietnam war, I realized it was impossible to understand that without understanding the Cold War. The Cold War is impossible to understand without understanding WWII, which is impossible to understand without understanding WWI. And so on. I’ve read well over 100 histories and biographies that cover the 20 th  century in America and the west.  Of course, 20 th  century US history is bound up with European history, which is itself bound up with the histories of Africa and Asia. One of the big gaps in my reading has been Africa. With that in min...

Earlier this year, my wife traded her 2003 Pontiac Vibe (manual transmission, window cranks) for a 2024 Hyundai Elantra. The Elantra not only has electric windows, it also has a key fob that allows the bearer to open the door and turn on the car without inserting the key anywhere. It has a computer monitor and video cameras and front, back and side radar sensors. It has pressure sensors for all four tires. The software can be updated remotely, but only when the car isn’t in motion. I’m glad she didn’t get a Jeep. “A software update to Jeep 4xE models caused major malfunctions over the weekend – leaving many owners stranded and some in danger after their power failed.   “The culprit appears to have been a buggy "over the air" (OTA) software update to the company’s   uconnect   software on Friday October 10, which “bricked” vehicles if owners installed it.” *snip* “Some described losing power abruptly whilst driving in the wake of the update. One Jeep owner, Kerry Hollis, w...

The way to make money in medicine is to do procedures (colonoscopies, surgery). Primary care physicians, as a rule, don’t to procedures. They diagnose and, when necessary, refer to a specialist for procedures. So primary care physicians don’t make the big bucks. Med school graduates carrying loans from college and medical school are attracted to the high-paying specialties. Unsurprisingly, there’s a nationwide shortage of primary care physicians.   AI to the rescue! “ Mass General Brigham has turned to artificial intelligence to address   a critical shortage of primary care doctors , launching an AI app that questions patients, reviews medical records, and produces a list of potential diagnoses.   “Called “Care Connect,” the platform was launched on Sept. 9 for the 15,000 MGB patients   without a primary care doctor . A chatbot that is available 24/7 interviews the patient, then sets up a telehealth appointment with a physician in as little as half an hour. MGB is am...

Thomas “Mustache of Understanding” Friedman told us that globalization has leveled the economic playing field, facilitating competition and collaboration, making the world “flat.”.  So how’s that going? “ Thousands of U.S.-bound packages shipped by UPS are trapped at hubs across the country, unable to clear the maze of new customs requirements imposed by the Trump administration. “As packages flagged for customs issues pile up in UPS warehouses, the company told NBC News it has begun “disposing of” some shipments. “Frustrated UPS customers describe waiting for weeks and trying to make sense of scores of conflicting tracking updates from the world’s largest courier.” Maybe Trump needs to interview a Bombay taxi driver. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/ups-delay-customs-tariffs-packages-destroyed-rcna236607

The president of MIT turned down the Compact for Academic Extortion in Higher Education sent by the Department of Education to MIT and eight other universities. MIT is the first. I expect they won’t be the only ones to refuse to cede academic independence to the fascistic Trump administration. My dad was an MIT grad. He would be proud. https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/regarding-compact

In his quest to find an environmental “cause” for autism, RFK Jr has honed in on acetaminophen. Initially, it was gestational exposure. Now it’s acetaminophen exposure in newborn boys who were circumcised: “ While Kennedy did not cite specific research, he appeared to be referencing two older studies. “One was likely a  2015 Danish national cohort study  published in the  Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine . Among boys born between 1994 and 2003, those who were circumcised were 46% more likely to develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD) before age 10, and the risk was particularly elevated for infantile autism diagnosed before age 5, where a twofold risk was observed.   “But the study authors acknowledged numerous weaknesses, most notably that it had no data on whether acetaminophen was actually administered during circumcisions. The investigators acknowledged that while their evidence was "compatible with a possible causal role of circumcision trauma in some cas...

RFK Jr has dishonestly portrayed the increase in autism diagnoses over the past 20 years as an increase in incidence of autism to justify his claim of an environmental cause for autism. Multiple published and refereed reports using twin pair studies show 60-90% heritability for autism, and those are probably underestimates. What changed in the last 20 years is the diagnostic criteria for autism and the systematic application of the new diagnostic criteria. A friend of mine has an autistic son who is in his 30s. Just to underscore the impact of how diagnostic criteria have change, here’s my friend’s experience with his son: “By age [of diagnosis], T__ would fall into the late group (age 19),  but he was actually early in the sense that he could have been diagnosed much sooner (age 2) if physicians were more aware of autism. In the 90s it was all about ADHD and everyone seemed stumped when they couldn't make him fit that diagnosis. I remember a psychiatrist who watched T__ play for l...

If nothing is done, the Social Security Trust Fund will be depleted by ca. 2035 and projected retirement benefits will drop by ca. 20%. What are the alternatives? The favorite alternative on the right is to increase the normal retirement age to 70.  “Increase the normal retirement age (NRA) 3 months per year for those age 62 starting in 2026 and ending in 2037 (NRA reaches 70 for those age 62 in 2037). Thereafter, index the NRA to maintain a constant ratio of expected retirement years (life expectancy at NRA) to potential work years (NRA minus 20). We assume the NRA will increase 1 month every 2 years. Also, increase the earliest eligibility age (EEA) from 62 to 64 at the same time the NRA increases from 67 to 69; that is, for those attaining age 62 in 2026 through 2033. Keep EEA at 64 thereafter.” The argument for increasing the retirement age is that when the program started the average life expectancy was 62 and now average life expectancy is in the 70s or 80s. Of course, most o...

“Twenty-five years ago, the FDA made a decision that changed the course of reproductive health in America. By  approving mifepristone  (Mifeprex) for medication abortion, the agency gave people access to one of the safest, most effective, and most studied medications in modern medicine.   “Since then,  more than 7.5 million Americans  have relied on it to end pregnancies safely and with dignity. Its safety record is stronger than many drugs we take without question,  including penicillin .” Now, the Trump Administration is revisiting mifepristone approval. Let’s be very clear. This isn’t about science or health. This is about controlling women. Full stop. “Look no further than abortion access to understand the ways that science-driven innovation matters. As brick-and-mortar clinics across the country (including in states where abortion is still legal) continue to close, communities are left without local providers, forcing people to travel hundreds of miles...

The Chicago police force has over 12,000 sworn officers, the 2 nd  largest police force in the US. Trump plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, most or all of whom will be sent to Chicago. That’s a 2.5% increase in total law enforcement, a trivial increase. Of course, that assumes they’ll all be doing law enforcement and not raking and spreading mulch, like the national guardsmen stationed in Washington DC. Or patrolling affluent, low-crime neighborhoods. Look, this has nothing to with crime or public safety. This is all about dominating a blue state governor who has said things that hurt Donald’s fee-fees, and the mayor of Chicago, who is Black.  https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-plans-deploy-national-guard-illinois-governor-pritzker-says_n_68e1728de4b060c19f1a8b1e?origin=home-latest-news-unit