№ 808. The Sound of Music

 

 

№ 794. Many Older People Embrace Vaccines. Research Is Proving Them Right.

The evidence that vaccines are beneficial remains overwhelming.

NPR

№ 777. “Instruments of a Beating Heart”

№ 704. Best Children's Books of 2023

Here are the year’s most notable picture, chapter and middle grade books, selected by our children’s books editor:

• “An American Story,” by Kwame Alexander. Illustrated by Dare Coulter.
• “Big,” by Vashti Harrison
• “Do You Remember?,” by Sydney Smith
• “Kozo the Sparrow,” by Allen Say
• “There Was a Party for Langston: King O’ Letters,” by Jason Reynolds. Illustrated by Jerome and Jarrett Pumphrey.
• “A Walk in the Woods,” by Nikki Grimes. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney and Brian Pinkney.
• “What If One Day…,” by Bruce Handy. Illustrated by Ashleigh Corrin.
• “The Skull,” by Jon Klassen
• “Who Will Make the Snow?” by Taras and Marjana Prokhasko. Translated by Boris Dralyuk and Jennifer Croft.
• “Alebrijes,” by Donna Barba Higuera. Illustrated by David Álvarez.
• “Big Tree,” by Brian Selznick
• “The Eyes & the Impossible,” by Dave Eggers. Illustrated by Shawn Harris.
• “Glowrushes,” by Roberto Piumini. Translated by Leah Janeczko.
• “Mexikid,” by Pedro Martín
• “Remember Us,” by Jacqueline Woodson

№ 570. Had Covid? You May Need Only One Dose of Vaccine, Study Suggests

People who have already been sick with Covid-19 should still be vaccinated, experts say, but they may experience intense side effects even after one dose.

By Cassandra Willyard

Published Feb. 1, 2021 / Updated Feb. 8, 2021

Shannon Romano, a molecular biologist, came down with Covid late last March, about a week after she and her colleagues shut down their lab at Mount Sinai Hospital. A debilitating headache came first, followed by a fever that kept rising, and then excruciating body aches. “I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t move,” she said. “Every one of my joints just hurt inside.”

It was not an experience she wanted to repeat — ever. So when she became eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine earlier this month, she got the shot.

Two days after her injection, she developed symptoms that felt very familiar. “The way my head hurt and the way my body ached was the same headache and body ache I had when I had Covid,” she said. She recovered quickly, but her body’s intense response to the jab caught her by surprise.

 

Pfizer's Vaccine

 

A new study may explain why Dr. Romano and many others who have had Covid report these unexpectedly intense reactions to the first shot of a vaccine. In a study posted online on Monday, researchers found that people who had previously been infected with the virus reported fatigue, headache, chills, fever, and muscle and joint pain after the first shot more frequently than did those who had never been infected. Covid survivors also had far higher antibody levels after both the first and second doses of the vaccine.

№ 190. Do the Magic Seven

For now, I swear off these vile victuals. For how long, remains an unknown.

This is definitely for those who have very little time for exercise. Don't we all?

Seven minutes is all it takes. Twelve exercises for thirty seconds each and ten second rest intervals. No special equipment or weights necessary, just a wall, a chair and your own body weight. One important thing: the sequence of exercises is critical.

And there is a science to the magic seven!

№ 61. Future Tenses

Already wrote about the predictions on artificial intelligence and human consciousness. They may/will happen in the proximate future (Waking Up to Binary Dreams). That means, they're expected to break ground during my lifetime, if the tech seers get it right!

The future paints a landscape taken off the pages of our classic science fiction from Dune, Star Trek or Star Wars.  Maybe it's a world even more bizarre than prveiously imagined. Maybe it's just a mix of the familiar and the twilight zone. Maybe.

Barring or despite all the future laughs we'll have about all the misses, here's another broad peering into the beyond. It's the New York Times's projection of the near future: Imagining 2076: Connect Your Brain to the Internet.

Scotty, it's time to do environmental scanning and look for our niches. I wonder if virtual or Lunar---heck, Martian tourism would prove popular. I'll settle for underwater cities, for now.

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