Marijuana – What Does It Treat? “It does everything,” my colleague explained, shaking his head. “It treats pain. It treats headaches. It treats depression and anxiety. Epilepsy. They keep asking me for it, every day.” A novel antidepressant? An extraordinary new anti-anxiety agent? No, marijuana. My internist friend is bombarded with requests to […]
Cheap, Beautiful Skin (4/28/14)
Just Beautiful What does a $46 billion hostile stock offer for a drug/cosmetics company have in common with physical exercise? Could it be that the office lobby of the company making the offer is a basketball court? No. It’s that both options promise healthy, beautiful looking skin. Though at very different prices. Valeant Pharmaceutical […]
New Era for Alzheimer’s? (4/14/14)
New Days It’s not just in media, high tech and politics where hype often overwhelms hope. It also happens in medicine. The discovery of abnormalities in amyloid and tau proteins made researchers in the 1980s believe they had a handle on Alzheimer’s disease. A host of medications promised to stall or push back its manifestations. […]
Your Lying, Cheating Brain (3/3/14)
Creating Useful Lies “I just know it’s true. I saw it.” But your brain is not a DVD player, correctly recording what happened. And that’s a good thing. The unreliability of memory has been a literary theme for thousands of years. The creation of our many “true fictions” are ascribed to factors varying from personality […]
Do You Know How to Walk? (2/24/18)
Walking and Breathing Walking is like breathing. Effortless. You’re up and moving. One of nature’s healthiest activities can also prove one of its most pleasant. People often love cities because they are “walkable” – you can get what you need on your own two feet. And be entertained – and pleasured – all along the […]