Researching the Obvious Often we do things because – that’s the way we’ve always done it. Yet when tested impartially, especially in medicine and public health, these “rules of thumb” frequently prove unsupported – or positively harmful. The standard joke about medical school education – “half of what we’re teaching is true, the other half false – […]
The War on Cancer and the War on Terror – what they have in common (1/3/12)
Who Wins? Historians often view wars as ending with winners and losers. We “won” World War II – and the Germans and Japanese lost. In most human conflicts results are less clear-cut. People don’t tend to think of the “War on Cancer” – started by President Nixon – and the “War on Terror” – begun […]
Diet and exercise won’t solve obesity (5/27/11)
The Missing Link That Explains Obesity? It’s front-page news – the missing link to explain why we’re so fat. In the May 26th New York Times, Tara Parker-Pope reports on a new study led by Timothy Church that “a sizable portion of the national weight gain can be explained by declining physical activity during the […]
