Trumpest in a Teapot

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/nyregion/dna-familial-searching-police-new-york.html?_r=0 This is an article in the NYT about using familial searches of DNA of relatives related to the alleged perpetrator. NY may join 9 other states which have authorized the use of familial DNA searching. This allows them to question innocent relatives of alleged perpetrators and is used in hard-to-solve cases. Identifying the guilty but protecting the innocent is the mission of law enforcement.  But, as mentioned in the commentary, the relatives of suspects are not themselves suspects and undoubtedly this new extension of law enforcement's powers will fall more heavily upon communities of color.


http://www.philly.com/philly/health/cancer/New-worry-for-cancer-patients-When-immunotherapy-leads-to-deadly-heart-damage-.html From the Philadelphia Inquirer, a column by Marie McCullough about the downside of the new checkpoint inhibitor drugs. The first checkpoint inhibitor was approved in 2011 for advanced melanoma treatment. This drug takes the brakes off the immune system and interferes with cells' ability to halt an immune attack and this class of drugs is expected to expand in the future. But there are problems just as there are problems with conventional chemotherapies and the new molecularly targeted cancer drugs. Data is being collected of heart complications and a cardiologist at Mass Gen is trying to identify characteristics that might predispose  patients to heart damage from these drugs.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/health/human-gene-editing-panel.html?_r=0  From the NYT an article on the approval by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine of germ-line gene editing of human embryos. This was once considered unthinkable and is on the border of being considered unethical but the committee so far has only approved alterations in the cases where babies might inherit genes causing disabilities and disabilities. These genes include Huntington's, Tay-Sachs Disease and beta-thalassemia. Opponents of gene editing of human embryos say that traits like strength, beauty and intelligence will be engineered.







https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/world/europe/winston-churchill-aliens.html
This is a commentary in the NYT about a recently discovered essay by Winston Churchill on extraterrestrial life. He was the first primne minister to have a science advisor and also wrote many essays on science. This is in stark contrast to our chief executive who is a science disbeliever.




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/06/science/donald-trump-scientists-politics.html Another article in NYT about scientists considering a run for political office. This was the topic of a webcast hosted by Rush Holt, former congressman from Princeton, NJ, former head of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab and current CEO of the AAAS. One of the scientists considering a run is Michael Eisen , evolutionary biologist and professor at UC Berkeley whose campaign slogan is "Liberty, Equality, Reality."