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 […]
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 […]
What Is the Product? (1/28/14)
Health Versus Health Care Art can imitate life. Better, it can educate life. Perhaps it might perform that role for the American “health care industry.” Whose main product is – more of itself. To reform it properly will require far more than the bizarre tinkering of the Affordable Care Act. We will need to get […]
The Pleasures of Pesticides (1/13/14)
Common Uses of Marijuana and Tobacco New years bring new adventures. Across the US, people camped out, filed into buses and trains, and drove thousands of miles to witness – Legal Pot. Marijuana cigarettes were lit celebrating the “new history” of America, where the failed Drug War would be put to rest. It just shows […]