The Bee Mystery

The Limits of Human KnowledgeOver the past few months, beekeepers in 36 U.S. states have been wondering what’s happened to their bees. Some have lost over 90% of their workers, who fly off and never return. Now researcher Ian Lipkin of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health believes he has the answer. In yet […]

McDonald’s “Hugo” vs. TGI Friday’s “Right Size” Menu

There’s a war going on in America’s fast-food nation, and consumers will determine who wins. In several recent Health Politics programs and in some previous blogs, I’ve outlined the origins of “super sizing” and our corn-based diet, and I’ve discussed the courageous efforts of TGI Friday’s CEO to bring sanity to portion sizing. Well, this […]

On Flying My Own Plane

I live near a little private airport. And every once in awhile, I think about what it might be like to pilot a little plane, taking off, floating up there in peace, bringing the plane in for a perfect landing. But then I look at the facts. There are about 228,000 of those type of […]

Do Americans Want a Surgeon General?

On July 10, Congress listened to former Surgeons General C. Everett Koop, David Satcher, and Richard Carmona on the future of this office and what might be done to improve what appears to be a steady decline in its effectiveness and usefulness to the American public. This morning’s reports focused on the comments of Dr. […]

Mems, the iPhone and “Health Piggy-Backing”

I got a good look at the new iPhone this week, thanks to my son Marc, a 32-year-old think-tanker always on the leading edge of technology, especially Apple technology. One of the neatest features, which he first showed me in the online demo, and then in real life, is the ability of the phone, when […]