Science & Society
Economic sanctions and divestment campaigns are attractive but often flawed tactics for accomplishing international political goals.
The social stigma the campaigns create often fails to match the economic pain these campaigns inflict, making the costs of resisting them for governments like Russia, Syria and Iran tolerable in most cases.
Indeed, sanctions succeed less than a third of the time they are imposed, according to researchers at the nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics, and divestment campaigns have an even less certain track record.
This isn’t to say that…
Western Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand now have birth rates that are relatively close to replacement, which means that the 'decline of the West', where developed nations birth control and abort themselves out of existence, isn't happening.
It's certainly a more optimistic demographic narrative of the future of the West than we usually get, where declining birth rates and population aging will reduce Europe and the US while Asian superpowers, such as China and India, see huge populations and economies to match.
Oxford Professor David Coleman and Associate…
Men just want sex more than women. I’m sure you’ve heard that one. Stephen Fry even went as far as suggesting in 2010 that straight women only went to bed with men because sex was “the price they are willing to pay for a relationship”.
Or perhaps you’ve even heard some of the evidence. In 1978 two psychologists, Russell Clark and Elaine Hatfield, did what became a famous experiment on the topic – not least because it demonstrated how much fun you can have as a social psychologist. Using volunteers, Clark and Hatfield had students at Florida State University approach people on campus and…
Pediatric research discoveries over the past 40 years have led to prevention and treatment strategies that have saved millions of lives worldwide and seven of the greatest research achievements were presented on Sunday, April 26 at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting at the San Diego Convention Center.
"Today, we often take these research discoveries for granted," said presenter Tina Cheng, MD, MPH, FAAP, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Pediatric Research. "Because of research and science in these seven areas, American children are healthier and…
If you have hepatitis B or C and feel like you are treated poorly by others due to it, you are not alone. As many as half of people infected with viral hepatitis say they have suffered discrimination and one-quarter admit that family members have avoided physical contact with them after finding out they had the infection.
Using an online survey (caveat emptor) of 1,217 people infected with hepatitis B or C in Europe and America, results revealed that nearly half (49.6%) of those infected have suffered some kind of discrimination. Of the 94.1% who told their family they had the…
Hank |
On today's "Dr. Oz" television show, Dr. Mehmet Oz finally addressed what has worried some and infuriated others about his media career; the show addressed the possibility that a gifted medical professional with too many awards to count had gone off the alternative medicine deep end.
It seems he really hasn't been faking it for a paycheck, because he is not that good an actor. He believes what he says, even if it is wrong. And some of it is definitely in defiance of well-established science, but the fact that he is now defending himself at all shows he has either grown, or he has lost…
Columbia University and seven other schools make up the prestigious Ivy League. But, sometimes things change and standards drop. It may be time to create a new group of schools, the Poison Ivy League, and perhaps Columbia should be its first member.
Today's opinion piece in USA today is entitled "Columbia medical faculty: What do we do about Dr. Oz?" has a title that ends with a question mark. And well it should.
Because if you have a strong enough stomach to read the whole thing, it becomes obvious that they really don't know what to do. Not because they haven't reached an…
Hank |
An alarming number of these blogs are written by women and for women so I will make it easy:
Nigella
Authoritative journals are Spiritual Nutrition and the Rainbow Diet. Degree from Clayton College of Natural Health. Has the same American Association of Nutritional Consultants accreditation as Ben Goldacre's dead cat.
Hank |
23-year-old "wellness" guru Belle Gibson claimed in spring 2013 to have cured her terminal brain cancer using her diet. She quickly became Australia's version of Vani Hari, "The Food Babe", so popular with the same demographic likely to buy an Apple Watch that they approached her about putting her app in the new device on release, right next to the Play button.
Now, I am generally skeptical of miracle cures but okay, in an infinite universe almost anything is possible. Though I wouldn't personally take one data point as evidence, with 6 billion people on earth it is possible that one…
More boys are born than girls: this is a fact. In the western world the ‘sex ratio’ is around 105 boys for every 100 girls, but this changes through history. And rather remarkably, it peaks at the end of wars: another fact.
So why are more boys born at the end of wars? Now we have to leave the comfort of facts, and are left with contested opinions.
Reliable official statistics on births in England and Wales have been available since the late 1830s, and the graph below shows the sex ratio from then until 2012. There are clear spikes at the end of the two World Wars, but also around 1973…