Category Archives: health

Climate change + health in Philippines: Charlotte Kellogg

Last December at the AGU, I heard a presentation of a ground-breaking and troubling study on climate change and public health in the Philippines. Two young researchers charted typhoons and their aftermath, and argued powerfully that our reporting of the damage caused by these powerful but brief storms (one of which landed near Manila in August)Continue reading “Climate change + health in Philippines: Charlotte Kellogg”

EPA appoints chem co rep to regulatory position

From the Chicago Tribune:  As a lawyer and scientist for one of the world's largest makers of flame retardants, Todd Stedeford vigorously defended chemicals added to scores of household products — often by concluding the substances are far less dangerous than academic and government studies have determined. Studies, legal newsletters and letters he wrote orContinue reading “EPA appoints chem co rep to regulatory position”

Could global warming give us late, light flu seasons?

In Ventura, the Star's first-rate health and society reporter Tom Kisken documents the lightest flu season in decades. Seriously, for some reason, it's been 29 years since the flu season took until February to get started. Usually it happens by Christmas. That's according to the official Centers for Disease Control. Why so late? In CaliforniaContinue reading “Could global warming give us late, light flu seasons?”

Multi, Extremely, and Totally Drug-Resistant TB: TDR-TB

Sometimes change is easier to hear in language than it is to contextualize in reality. My meager understanding of tuberculosis cannot be expected to grade the seriousness of the news that several new strains of the disease have been found in populations in India and Iran. This sounds alarming, but after all, medical researchers haveContinue reading “Multi, Extremely, and Totally Drug-Resistant TB: TDR-TB”

A New Way to Judge Others: High, Medium, or Low Fitness

A stupendous graph, part of an equally impressive health/lifestyle piece in the WSJ yesterday: The pitch convinces without pushing a single product: "No pill or nutritional supplement has the power of near-daily moderate activity in lowering the number of sick days people take," says David Nieman, director of Appalachian State University's Human Performance Lab inContinue reading “A New Way to Judge Others: High, Medium, or Low Fitness”

STDs Hit One Quarter of Young American Women

That statistic comes from my story in the Ventura County Reporter of a couple of weeks ago. Anyone sexually active and unattached should read the story, I dare say. Even if you think you know everything you need to know about STDs, I can pretty much guarantee you don't, having discussed it with a numberContinue reading “STDs Hit One Quarter of Young American Women”