GOOD has an interesting infographic on deadly disease outbreaks throughout history. Though measles and smallpox are the most prolific microscopic assassins, claiming over 500 million lives, these diseases have been around forever -- measles since the 7th century BC, smallpox since 10,000 BC.
Read MoreAbout a year ago, right after The Decision Tree book came out, I realized that a concept I touched on in the book had far larger potential. The Feedback Loop, it struck me, had potential as a framework for improving human behavior throughout our lives. Indeed, feedback loops could be put into action beyond health, into areas such as productivity, energy consumption, and other categories where human behavior plays a pivotal role.
Read MoreYesterday, Nathan Mhyrvold, an ex-Microsoft exec and all-around food nerd posted an excerpt of his new book Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking at The Guardian.
There, Mhyrvold talks about the “misconceptions of pork,” and how most of us cook the hell out of it, way beyond what’s needed to be safe. And for the most part, he’s right. In fact, the USDA just revised their standards for cooked pork, dropping the suggested internal temperature down from a cotton-mouthed 160 degrees to a succulent and juicy 145.
Read MoreAs I start weighing the evidence for or against the raw milk movement, at least one thing seems clear: the government isn’t exactly friendly to the idea, as they mandate, and enforce, a lot of regulations in this space.
Read MoreThe Associated Press reported today that a food distributor in Virginia will start tracking their beef from farm to table by monitoring a DNA tag. The technique has already been used in Europe, but people certainly have high-hopes for its utility in the US:
Read MoreIn the Bay Area, investors are a dime a dozen. Credentials for the job must come as part of the Successful Entrepreneur Gift Pack handed out after an idea nets a 9-figure payday.
Relax. I’m only (half) joking.
Read MoreOne of the biggest battles between strong scientific evidence and those with a downright pigheaded refusal to accept the facts isn’t happening inside a medical clinic, but in the dairy fields of Northern California.
Read MoreIf the idea of triaging patients at the emergency room seems complicated, consider how public health officials prioritize threats posed by organisms they can’t even see. Yet the microscopic microbes and viruses that sicken millions of people with infectious diseases still require a plan of attack. As in any medical scenario, resources are limited. And whether it’s due to low staff numbers, not enough research dollars, or too few hours in the day, someone ultimately has to make the call on where to funnel assets. In 1994, the World Health Organization started measuring the cumulative healthy years lost to disease with Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY). And each infectious disease is currently ranked according to its DALY score, providing a numbered system to help guide the public health community in crafting a suitable approach to managing the myriad of diseases they face.
Read MoreHow can the CDC make public health campaigns sexier? One way: to release a top-ten list of the greatest achievements in public health, from triumphs over vaccine-preventable diseases to the boon in tobacco control programs.
Read MoreDonated blood is routinely screened for dangerous pathogens – things like HIV and Hepatitis – to make sure there is no threat to the recipient’s health during a transfusion. But a case study just published in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that viruses are not the only hazards lurking in the collection bag.
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