Is it a best practice nowadays to use word "coronavirus" for all the viruses with the particular molecular structure pattern instead of word "flu"?
Flu viruses are usually described more specifically too: H1N5 and the like
A coronavirus epidemic hit 20k years ago, new study finds
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Re: A coronavirus epidemic hit 20k years ago, new study finds
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's unfortunate to see on this platform is amount of armchair virology experts who reject scientific process.
Again, it’s a very reasonable theory that the virus was lab-made. Stop taking other people’s reasonable conjecture in the worst faith, it is anti-intellectual. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-...
There are many reasonable theories out there, competing for the explanation of various phenomena.
And then there are those who pick and choose the theories they want to relentlessly push and promote, because they support the deepest, most burning desires coming out of their guts.
Re: A coronavirus epidemic hit 20k years ago, new study finds
#63“It should make us worry,” said David Enard, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who led the study, which was published on Thursday in the journal Current Biology. “What is going on right now might be going on for generations and generations.” Should it though? Seems like we've survived this many times as a species, and now have the technology to combat it! I'm more optimistic with this information…
I think whats going on here are people are fatigued with covid related news and in the news in general. News publications are terrified and putting out these scaremongering stories to get people hooked again. Just like the 1917/1918 swine flu didn't last for "generations"(meaning the potency of the virus was extremely deadly) this covid virus will do the same. It will def. be around but not in the same potency as whe…
The last thing we should do is to be laid back about this or next viruses. If we don’t use the momentum to reduce vaccine rollout times among other things - we failed.
Re: A coronavirus epidemic hit 20k years ago, new study finds
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Geez. Taking the parent post in horrible faith, really unfortunate to see on this platform. All the parent did was point out a few comments from the piece which certainly add a tinge of bias - stating with certainty that Covid was not lab-made for one.
What's unfortunate to see on this platform is amount of armchair virology experts who reject scientific process.
What’s even more unfortunate is when scientific leaders reject scientific process for political motivations.
Re: A coronavirus epidemic hit 20k years ago, new study finds
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I don't have time to do more than to skim the text, then my own lack of understanding / misrecognition of jargon can also "obfuscate central facts or [the] salience [of] peripheral details."
Don't sell yourself short. Your ability to grok the summary (or abstract) of a research paper is probably not much worse--and possibly better--than a typical journalist, even a journalist at the NYT. Especially relative to younger journalists, who seem to rely on Twitter and other social media to contextualize things.
I am generally surprised by the inability of journalists to grok research papers, but I think the age thing goes the other direction than what you suggest.
General scientific/numeric literacy among people who don't work in science seems higher in the younger generation than the older to me.
Re: A coronavirus epidemic hit 20k years ago, new study finds
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Again, it’s a very reasonable theory that the virus was lab-made. Stop taking other people’s reasonable conjecture in the worst faith, it is anti-intellectual. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-...
Again, it's a theory that has so far no basis in science - it's speculations, mostly by people who have no virology background. They maybe even PhD in other biology fields, but having them present their opinions, with no actual data to back it as facts, is as valid as database experts applying their intuition to reason about how to build ML models. Meanwhile, viruses jumping spices is extremely well document behavior…
The theory that Covid was naturally occurring is also a theory. A true scientist wouldn’t reject a theory out of hand because the theory calls into question finding and research priorities of the scientists doing the rejecting. A lot of this theory rejection isn’t about science but about CYA.
Re: A coronavirus epidemic hit 20k years ago, new study finds
#67So - how did this virus spread through the population? 20 kyrs ago people didn't live in cities but in small bands of a few dozen people. It's easy to see how an epidemic might spread through a village but how would it move between isolated groups?
The same way the infectious face cancer spreads among the Tasmanian devils.
Re: A coronavirus epidemic hit 20k years ago, new study finds
#68So - how did this virus spread through the population? 20 kyrs ago people didn't live in cities but in small bands of a few dozen people. It's easy to see how an epidemic might spread through a village but how would it move between isolated groups?
And how did they ever survive, without masks, lockdowns and vaccines?
We also survived the Black Plague.
Re: A coronavirus epidemic hit 20k years ago, new study finds
#69“It should make us worry,” said David Enard, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who led the study, which was published on Thursday in the journal Current Biology. “What is going on right now might be going on for generations and generations.” Should it though? Seems like we've survived this many times as a species, and now have the technology to combat it! I'm more optimistic with this information…
To your point: "...who led the study and is now seeking notoriety and additional funding..."
While I hate to sound like a cynic, this is the human side of science time and again. The fact that too many "journalists" don't recognize the context only makes matters worse.
To that I'll editorialize and add, key word "might." Such unsubstantiated hyperbol only makes the source even more suspect.
Re: A coronavirus epidemic hit 20k years ago, new study finds
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Seems like we've survived this many times as a species I'm reasonably sure the species will survive climate change. Some nation states, civilizations and cultures' odds look more iffy. I think your bar for worry may be a bit higher than mine.
Yeah, it's like surviving falling from an airplane. You technically survive, but life will be extremely different.
TIL you can likely survive a landing at terminal velocity just by orienting yourself feet-first and bending your knees.