Driving Forward Driving excitement is in danger. Google has begun producing cars without steering wheels or pedals. Cars that drive themselves. Drivers may someday be obsolete. Humans will no longer be required to control the wheel. And think what we will lose: the pleasures of the iconic machine of American life – the embodiment of […]
Fighting Families Fall Ill (5/19/14)
The Family That Stays Together… The “classic” film “Bonnie and Clyde” nearly did not get made. Film producers at Warner Brothers could not understand why they should unleash onto the public a movie whose romantic leads’ (Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway) main occupation was ultraviolently killing bank managers and police. Warren Beatty saved the […]
Prevention Versus Cure (4/7/14)
Treatment, or Prevention? In a perfect world, prevention would not prove necessary. There would be cures for everything. In the American media world, this landscape seems to exist – or is promised soon. Suffering from schizophrenia? There’s a pill. High blood pressure? Multiple pills. Together they’ll surely work. Depression? Check. Where “personal will” no […]
The Enraged Heart (3/11/14)
Does Anger Kill? For thousands of years the anecdotal answer has been yes. Rage frequently kills those enraged – and those around them. But what happens in modern life? Therein’s a tale involving personality, tobacco, and the changing mores of research. What’s New Now? A large meta-analysis in the European Heart Journal, put together […]
Why Diets Don’t Work (2/18/14)
The Short Answer: Because we don’t understand enough of how the body works. That includes why we weigh what we do. Throwing more money at the problem (diets are a $66 billion dollar industry in the US; food vastly larger) has so far led to a bigger population. For every success, there are many […]