Free Republic

There was a peculiar moment during a news segment last fall, at the height of the Ebola scare in the United States, between the nation’s two most recognizable medical figures. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s household-name medical correspondent, was standing next to Thomas Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in front of CDC headquarters in Atlanta on October 1. Frieden assures Gupta that if one of them had Ebola, the other would be at no risk of infection: “It’s not like the flu, not like the common cold. It requires direct physical contact.” A CNN anchor interjects:...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 March 11 Iridescent Clouds Credit & Copyright: Arne Danielsen Explanation: Why would clouds appear to be different colors? A relatively rare phenomenon known as iridescent clouds can show unusual colors vividly or a whole spectrum of colors simultaneously. These clouds are formed of small water droplets of nearly uniform size. When the Sun is in the right position and mostly hidden by thick clouds, these thinner clouds...