What I'm Reading (Oct. 21)
The logistics of returns, Disney, and nuclear power – “Our Friend, the Atom,” and the fine immunologic line that is pregnancy.
The logistics of returns, Disney, and nuclear power – “Our Friend, the Atom,” and the fine immunologic line that is pregnancy.
Mandates are rarely a good idea. It’s not even good parenting to order children about with a “because I said so.” Better to persuade, cajole, give choices. That’s what reasonable parents do. But there are times, especially during emergencies - when time is of the essence - that better parenting (and governing) requires an imperative, and “because I said so” becomes the proper, prudent -- and sometimes life-saving -- approach.
This article is written by Dr. Peter Attia [1]. It is helpful to understand the study of health, especially in the time of COVID. Summarizing it does not do it justice - so we are reprinting it from his website, with their permission.
Just what we need: another COVID variant. This one is called Delta AY.4.2 and it's now circulating in the UK. It might be a bit worse than the already awful Delta variant. Should we be concerned? And what does this suggest about COVID in the future?
A new study suggests that smokers who take up vaping may "relapse" to cigarettes. But this is more a problem of definitions than evidence that e-cigarettes don't promote smoking cessation.
"Synthetic chemical in consumer products linked to early death, study finds.”
“People with the highest levels of phthalates had a greater risk of death from any cause, especially cardiovascular mortality, according to a study published today in a peer-reviewed journal.”
Let’s take a look behind the headlines, at the study itself, to see what it actually says. [1]
As I have been arguing of late, the gist, the information, and the emotional components all play a role. A new study looks at the helpfulness of consumer reviews in guiding choice. The emotion they chose to consider – anger – is, unfortunately, around us 24/7/365.
October 16th was designated "Ether Day" in 1906 in celebration of one of the most important discoveries in history. Read this and you'll get some fascinating history about ether and also another hideous chapter in The Dread Chemistry Lesson From Hell series. How can you not?
Europe, as opposed to various national authorities, is well poised to provide funds to support the broken antibiotic market. If this ever comes to be, how will products deserving of such support be chosen? Separately, will European regulators continue their slide back to requiring infeasible clinical trials and thereby limiting access to new antibiotics in Europe or will they wake up?
It's a constant battle for those of us who have been pushing to overturn failed opioid policies. Specifically, those based on the faulty premise that the overdose crisis arose from doctors overprescribing painkillers. Lately, there’s been some progress. So, the last thing we need now is a miniseries that gets it all wrong. Hulu's “Dopesick” does just that.