The Fount of Useless Information
Your place for useless information that just might possibly be interesting.
Public health group files FTC complaint about Merck’s ‘Madagascar 3’ marketing
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/Public-health-group-files-FTC-complaint-about-Mercks-Madagascar-3-marketing.html?cmpid=138890509
I blogged earlier about a middle ground approach between our current idiotic war on drugs and what prior to that point was my only other solution, full legalization …
Ban on supersize soda: are we putting too much emphasis on soda, not portion size in general?
http://www.boston.com/dailydose/2012/06/20/ban-supersize-soda-are-putting-too-much-emphasis-soda-not-portion-size-general/jLgrFjbn77qYGe01JMV8xO/story.html
This is an interesting situation for me. It is clear that there are many reasons why the US has porked up over …
Negotiating a truce with our own germs
http://health.heraldtribune.com/2012/06/19/negotiating-a-truce-with-our-own-germs/
While the idea of getting a poop inoculation is quite gross, there is nearing overwhelming evidence that our ‘microbiome’ is dramatically influential to our health and welfare. One can easily analogize antibiotics …
Will conservatism bankrupt America?
The right’s privatizing alternative to the welfare state will leave us broke
http://www.salon.com/2012/06/12/will_conservatism_bankrupt_america/
I think this is an important article to read, hence my posting here for my reader(s). I am not able to organize my …
We Can Tame the Debt Without Breaking Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/we-can-tame-the-debt-without-killing-entitlements-20120607
Interestingly, as the article points out, everyone wants to focus on the disastrous upper bound where the debt reaches multiples of GDP in a couple of decades, …
Moderation as the Sweet Spot for Exercise
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/moderation-as-the-sweet-spot-for-exercise/
So, what would you give for an extra 6 years of healthy life (if you are a guy, ‘only’ 5.6 for women)? Would you get up off your ass and go for …
Scientists confirm existence of ‘old person smell’
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/30/scientists-confirm-existence-of-old-person-smell/?hpt=hp_c2
It is not all old people that have a particular smell about them, but quite a few really do seem to have an air of decay. I have found a lot of …
Prostate cancer screening’s false promise
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/22/opinion/brawley-prostate-screening/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7
The first time I did any reading on prostate cancer was a number of years ago when my father-in-law had a positive PSA test. Based on my reading at the time there was a …
Rural life may boost allergy resistance
Country dwellers richer in immune-calming bacteria
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/340558/title/Rural_life_may_boost_allergy_resistance
I talked about the ‘hygiene hypothesis‘ before, here is more evidence. I am starting to accept that the billion-year co-evolution of multi-cellular organisms and single-celled …
Retinal implants could restore partial vision
In lab tests on rat retinas, a photovoltaic chip helps display images through special goggles
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/340650/title/Retinal_implants_could_restore_partial_vision
This is still a long way off, but it is quite interesting. Basically put a CCD chip in …