PopTech 2009 Take-Aways: On Amateurs, Mining Cross-Disciplinary Gold, FLAP Bags, Science Fellows, $12 (well, $10) Computers, the Solar Hope, a Few Ideas for Next Year & Some Darn Fine Fiddling…

It was a wonderful little bubble while it lasted. Getting up before dawn. Dressing in easy-to-peel layers for whatever the day might bring. Walking over to Boynton-McKay, a diner of rare perfection, where the wi-fi was as reliably good as the pancakes (a boon in connectivity-challenged Camden…) Ascending the stairs and more stairs of the [...]

On 9/11, Wild Horses, Symbols & Hope

A round up in September could spell the end for a small herd of wild horses out West. Why that matters more than you think: a tale of bureaucracy and special interests, horse meat and hot flashes, and wrongs that wouldn’t be that hard to right.
Moments before September 11, 2001 turned into “9/11,” my cameraman, [...]

Underlying Conditions: Swine Flu, Obesity, Pregnancy, Cytokine Storms, Ebola, Factory Farms and “The Frog and Peach”

The swine flu genie, now officially out of the bottle as a WHO-certified global pandemic, has left a trail of mostly non-lethal misery (so far) stretching across 145-and-counting countries.

In the U.K., experts predict there could be as many as a 100,000 cases per day by August – which would also dash hopes for an economic [...]

Rating Pandemics: Tweaking the WHO Scale for Next Time…

Last week, the World Health Organization ratcheted up its pandemic rating for swine flu (aka H1N1) all the way to an unprecedented “pandemic imminent” level 5, with a top-of-the-chart 6 considered inevitable. Was it time to wear masks? Stock up on Tamiflu and canned goods? Update wills? Pull out old high school lit-class copies of [...]

A Virus by Any Other Name: Lessons from an Outbreak (so far…)

A week has passed since the World Health Organization convened its first emergency meeting to deal with menacing new flu virus thought to have sickened thousands and killed dozens of young Mexican men. New cases continue to tally up around the world (15 countries so far) and the virus isĀ  spreading person-to-person. The outbreak has [...]