Category Archives: Technology, science, and math

More on the limits of social media monitoring for school violence prevention

Posted on December 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Some good stuff from the DMN. When Social Sentinel representatives pitched their service to Florida’s Gulf Coast State College in 2018, they billed it as an innovative way to find threats of suicides and shootings posted online. But for the … Continue reading →

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Some Harris County courts get Zoom bombed

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Not a story I expected to read this week. Pornographic videos were shown in several Harris County courtrooms Tuesday in what county officials are calling a “Zoom bombing” incident. “Several Harris County Courts at Law experienced zoom bombing — or … Continue reading →

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Abbott bans TikTok on state-issued devices

Posted on December 9, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Honestly, I’m fine with this. Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday a ban of the popular app TikTok from all government-issued devices. In a news release, the Republican said the Chinese government could use the app to access critical U.S. infrastructure … Continue reading →

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Remnants of the Challenger found

Posted on November 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. Divers searching the Bermuda Triangle for World War II-era aircraft found a piece of NASA history: wreckage from the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded 73 seconds after liftoff Jan. 28, 1986. This wreckage, discovered well northwest of the Bermuda Triangle, will … Continue reading →

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Beware of RSV

Posted on November 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Worrying. Two common respiratory viruses continue to keep Houston pediatric hospitals unusually busy this time of year, with both the flu and RSV seeing a second surge following a rise in cases over the spring and summer, respectively. Before the … Continue reading →

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City news release website hacked

Posted on October 7, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Oops. Looking for a mail-order Russian bride or wondering how to order a school term paper online? Or maybe you want to improve your slot machine skills by playing online casino games. The city of Houston’s official website for news releases has you covered. The page on Wednesday morning … Continue reading →

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Kemp’s ridley turtles making a comeback

Posted on August 25, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We deserve a little good news. For the first time in 75 years, hatchlings of the world’s smallest sea turtle species have been discovered on the Chandeleur Islands, a chain of barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico off the … Continue reading →

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More dimensions for privacy in the post-Roe world

Posted on July 26, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The fall of Roe is a big boon for cyberstalkers. All too frequently, people monitor our intimate lives in betrayal of our trust—and it’s often those we know and love. They don’t even need to be near us to capture … Continue reading →

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Sniffing out COVID

Posted on July 12, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Very interesting. Dogs are as reliable as laboratory tests for detecting COVID-19 cases, and may be even better than PCR tests for identifying infected people who don’t have symptoms. A bonus: The canines are cuter and less invasive than a … Continue reading →

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Get your kids vaccinated

Posted on July 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

A good start, but we can do a lot more. Texas Children’s Hospital has administered COVID-19 vaccines to nearly 6,000 children ages 6 months through 4 years old since the youngest age group became eligible to receive the shots last … Continue reading →

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More on how abortion bans will be enforced

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s all about the data. The Supreme Court is shortly expected to issue its decision on a challenge to Roe v. Wade that will—if a leaked draft version of the opinion holds—end federal protection for abortion access across the US. If that … Continue reading →

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Social media monitoring is not a solution to school shootings

Posted on June 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

While current Republican “solutions” for gun violence include door control and arming teachers, one “solution” that has been in place for the past few years has been monitoring social media for signs of gun-related threats. That was in place in … Continue reading →

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Are we going to raise the COVID threat level again?

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe, but not yet. Coronavirus infections are on the rise across Houston, wastewater tracking shows, even as fewer people seek testing two years into the pandemic. Four months after the city saw record infection rates caused by the highly contagious … Continue reading →

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Bad news for the crazy ants

Posted on May 16, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

They have found a mighty foe. Several years ago, staffers at Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco, Texas, noticed a new type of invasive ant species. Tawny crazy ants were so aggressive that they were driving birds out of … Continue reading →

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Rich guys back from space

Posted on May 2, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

What goes up, must come down. The first all-private crew to visit the International Space Station landed in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday, completing the first mission a Houston company organized as a precursor to building its own space station. … Continue reading →

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More rich guys in space

Posted on April 9, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

But it could be good for Houston, so… Axiom Space launched a high-stakes mission Friday, sending three paying customers to the International Space Station as Houston seeks to anchor a new era of human spaceflight. The crew, tucked inside a … Continue reading →

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Studying COVID in cats and dogs

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Seems like a reasonable thing to look at. Brushing a dog’s teeth is hard enough. The dog looks at you plaintively, eyes wide with betrayal, as you insert the toothbrush and perform a quick pantomime of a tooth cleaning in … Continue reading →

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Yeah, ivermectin is useless against COVID

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Hardly a surprise. Antiparasitic drug Ivermectin became a partisan battleground during the Covid-19 pandemic, as anti-vaccine influencers and Republican politicians hawked it as a miracle cure, to the widespread skepticism of infectious disease experts. A peer-reviewed study recently presented by Dr. Edward Mills, a professor … Continue reading →

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On gender affirming care and fertility

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The more you know… The fertility of transgender youths in Texas was thrust into the spotlight recently after state leaders issued a directive designating gender-affirming care as child abuse that infringed on a person’s “fundamental right to procreation.” Medical interventions … Continue reading →

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COVID may be down but it’s definitely not out

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Just a reminder, this pandemic hasn’t gone away. It’s less of a threat to us here right now, but it’s still very much a threat. The evolution of the coronavirus is likely to produce dangerous new variants that escape built-up … Continue reading →

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Sure, go ahead, test ivermectin

Posted on March 7, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Just keep your expectations very low. Texas universities, including Texas Tech’s Health Science Center in El Paso, are now recruiting subjects for a nationwide study to test the effects of unproven repurposed drugs against non-severe COVID cases. Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic … Continue reading →

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Corbevax gets its approval

Posted on January 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Kudos. Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine today announced Corbevax — a protein sub-unit COVID-19 vaccine — has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India to launch in that nation. The vaccine has been developed in … Continue reading →

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Climate change and freezing weather

Posted on December 20, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

A little science for you. It was the coldest February Texas had seen in more than four decades, and the sustained blast of arctic air knocked out much of the state’s power grid for several days, causing hundreds of deaths … Continue reading →

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A broader look at the Houston project to track COVID in wastewater

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The DMN tells me things I did not know about my current favorite public works project. The [Houston] health department is conducting the wastewater surveillance for COVID-19 in partnership with researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine. Wastewater … Continue reading →

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Corbevax

Posted on December 13, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Very cool. A Houston-made COVID-19 vaccine will likely be approved for use in India by the end of the year, said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of Texas Children’s Hospitals Center for Vaccine Development. Hotez and his co-director, Dr. Maria Elena … Continue reading →

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Omicron may be coming, but delta is still here

Posted on December 5, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It’s still a big problem, in case we haven’t forgotten. Omicron’s arrival in the U.S. came as no surprise to federal health officials and will be met with similar anticipation in Texas, where experts believe it could show up in … Continue reading →

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Deer COVID

Posted on December 3, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

In case you were running low on things to feel anxious about. Scientists have evidence that SARS-CoV-2 spreads explosively in white-tailed deer and that the virus is widespread in this deer population across the United States. Researchers say the findings … Continue reading →

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The Pfizer pill

Posted on November 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This would be a big step forward. Pfizer Inc. said [recently] that its experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 cut rates of hospitalization and death by nearly 90% in high-risk adults, as the drugmaker joined the race for an easy-to-use medication … Continue reading →

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Don’t forget your flu shot

Posted on October 5, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The flu is going to be back this year. Don’t fall for it. After a historically light flu season in 2020, experts warn an influenza resurgence is looming this fall and winter. “I would expect a more intense influenza season, … Continue reading →

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Your thermostat may be plotting against you

Posted on July 21, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Welcome to 2021. Amid [recent] sweltering temperatures in Houston, the agency that operates the state’s power grid asked residents to cut back on how much electricity they used to help it meet demand. That’s how some people apparently learned the hard way that their … Continue reading →

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Is it a car that flies or a plane that drives?

Posted on July 17, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a little of both. A prototype flying car has completed a 35-minute flight between international airports in Nitra and Bratislava, Slovakia. The hybrid car-aircraft, AirCar, is equipped with a BMW engine and runs on regular petrol-pump fuel. Its creator, … Continue reading →

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Kids still get COVID, too

Posted on June 19, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

And they need to get vaccinated if at all possible. Since the Food and Drug Administration approved emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine for 12 to15 year olds on May 10, more than 300,000 Texas adolescents and teenagers have received at least … Continue reading →

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The COVID wastewater tracking project has been a big success

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This has been one of the best things to come out of this interminable and miserable COVID experience. Lauren Stadler’s environmental engineering students always pose the same question at the beginning of a semester: “What happens to water in the … Continue reading →

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Houston Methodist tells its employees to get vaxxed or else

Posted on April 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I’m okay with this. Four out of five Houston Methodist employees are vaccinated against COVID-19. The sliver who are not will be suspended or fired if they refuse the shot, according to company policy. The hospital required managers to be … Continue reading →

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