With austerity politics in full bloom, governments at all levels are eliminating a wide range of activities. Most of these affect our health. For example, over the last two years the state of Massachusetts has eliminated funding for the prevention of lead poisoning. According to the Boston Globe, the US Congress is likely to eliminate these programs as well. [Read more...]
A study has shown that Metformin, a drug widely used in treating diabetics, is likely to reduce the risk of breast cancer. The researchers introduce the study by noting that it is now acknowledged that diabetes increases the risk of breast and other cancers—something we discussed two years ago in our book.
When my daughter Laural started school, a friend of mine asked what she was learning. After a moment, Laural answered, “How to stand in line and how to take tests.” There you have it: social order and stability are the foundation of education—which should make us ponder the relationship between education and learning. [Read more...]
Why are people still smoking? Don’t they know it’s bad for their health? [Read more...]
When I was studying environmental economics in graduate school, a prominent scholar in the field made the argument that environmentalism was a middle class issue. The implication was that all the fuss about saving the whales and whatnot was nothing more than a consumer preference that people with enough money could afford to have and as a consequence should not be taken seriously in the same way as poverty. [Read more...]
If you had cancer, wouldn’t want to know?
That’s the Siren’s call of cancer screening: don’t you want to know? [Read more...]
During the Vietnam War era I learned a little piece of antiwar theatrics. I used it then and during later wars when people I knew, including family members, frothed about using the military might of the United States to save us from whoever the incarnation of evil happened to be at the time. Here’s what I’d do. [Read more...]
Last Friday I had the pleasure and privilege of participating in a forum on Smart Meters. Activists in the city of Fairfax led by Valerie Hood organized a town meeting to educate and organize the city’s citizens on how to prevent the installation of wireless Smart Meter technology. [Read more...]
The Harvard Medical School conducts the America Insomnia Survey. The Survey’s purpose is to identify the prevalence and causes of sleep disruption. According to Survey researchers, one quarter of the people in the study experience some form of sleep disruption that is serious enough to affect their work life. The researchers estimate that the economic effect of these disruptions amounts to $63 billion. [Read more...]
Many years ago I watched a TV show about a wealthy man who was a superhero on the side. It was unique because the star was (still is, for that matter) African-American. The hero had a rumpled, geeky white guy who provided him with technological wizardry. It was one of those moments in popular culture when the boundaries of “normal” were pushed outward. [Read more...]
