Best of the Moment
science-health
north-america
Sally Satel | New Republic | 15 March 2010
Wrong to treat drug, alcohol addiction as brain diseases like, say, Alzheimer's. They are choices, patterns of behaviour, which can be changed by incentives
Tom Siegfried | Science News | 13 March 2010
Tests for statistical significance are widely misunderstood and misinterpreted, leading to countless wrong conclusions in scientific literature, contradictory and confusing conclusions in medical studies
Matt Ridley | Prospect | 10 March 2010
Informative review of Andrew Montford's "Hockey Stick Illusion", debunking climate-change graph supposedly showing sudden recent uptick in world temperature. "One of the best science books in years"
Jon Ronson | Guardian | 6 March 2010
Very funny, gently mocking interview with Paul Davies, head of US-funded scientists' group advising how to respond if aliens contact Earth. He thinks Einstein will travel well, but not Picasso
Carl Zimmer | Loom | 4 March 2010
"Can the bacteria in our bodies control our behavior in the same way a puppetmaster pulls the strings of a marionette? This wonderfully creepy possibility may be true"
David Kent | American Scientist | Mach 2010
There's usually a market for goods that are much cheaper than the best, yet still fit for purpose. That's why we go to Ikea, Walmart. Why doesn't healthcare work the same way?
Amy Tuteur | Salon | 23 February 2010
Surge in childhood mental illness commonly blamed on over-diagnosis, encouraged by drug companies. But 100 years ago we didn't diagnose much cancer in children, either
Paul Waldman | American Prospect | 26 February 2010
Interview with author Michael Belfiore about Darpa, US military research agency which first strung together the internet, and quietly goes on bringing visionary projects to verge of viability
Amy Harmon | NYT | 22 February 2010
Clinical trials of miracle anti-melanoma drug showed tumours disappearing within a fortnight, even when cancer had penetrated bone. Two-part series. Outstanding story
Louis Menand | New Yorker | 21 February 2010
New doubts over effectiveness of anti-depressants over placebos revive doubt as to whether psychiatry really science at all, or mixture of profiteering, mumbo-jumbo