The Longest Rest June 25, 2009. I was rapidly scanning BBC News when I shouted “No” at the monitor and gasped before recognizing why. Michael Jackson was so young. How could he die? I gasped again when my webmaster told me CNN Headline news was calling Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson’s personal physician at the time […]
Can marriage make you fat? (9/21/11)
A Risk of Commitment? So is marriage another risk factor for making you fat? The data from this year’s American Sociological Association Meeting are troubling, though not surprising. Studying over 10,000 men and women as part of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth ’79, weight gain was common among both men and women in the 2 […]
What your gut tells your brain (9/20/11)
Is It Romance, Or Do the Right Bacteria Make the Mood? Brain, your gut is calling. It’s got a lot to say – about, stress, anxiety, and your mood. That’s the potential upshot of a recent study published in PNAS (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/08/26/1102999108.abstract?sid=1091d71a-9201-45df-90ec-6134dfd8231d) by Javier Bravo and company from the University College, Cork, and nicely described in […]
Give me magic pills (9/12/11)
Pill Power The human body possesses fantastic regenerative power. We replace most of ourselves inside three to four weeks, updating and upgrading as we go, refashioning information into new bodies, bone and brain. But that is not why Americans go to their doctors. When people feel ill or even fearful of illness, they want relief, […]
Hot dogs and diabetes (9/6/11)
How Can Hot Dogs Be Bad For You? Never deny the force of genetics or fate – yet the trick to being healthy is staying healthy. Which means another American icon may soon leave your school cafeteria. Regularly eating hot dogs increases your chance of getting diabetes – by quite a lot. So does bacon, […]