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Edwards's cancer policy: a disappointment

I like John Edwards and tend to agree with him on poverty and campaign finance, although his Iraq war opposition is weak and ambiguous. But he's got a lot of company there, unfortunately. The one thing you can say about the Republican candidates is their pro-war stance isn't ambiguous. It is explicit -- disgustingly so. But that's not what this post is about. It's about different Edwards disappointment, his newly announced position on cancer policy. For someone who was a plaintiff's lawyer in tort cases and whose wife is a cancer patient, his policy is mostly silent about a public health…

Regal Entertainment Group: Royal assholes

The Reveres and spouses are not big moviegoers, although when on vacation we do like to take in a flick. The movie Transformers is not likely to be the one we'd pick, but one thing for sure: whichever one it is won't be shown at one the theaters of the world's largest chain, Regal Entertainment Group. Not since they decided to go after a 19 year old young woman who filmed 20 seconds of Transformers at one of their theaters. She wanted to show it to her 13 year old brother to show him what it looked like. She subsequently pled guilty to a charge of unlawful recording of a movie: The case is…

Protecting the border from flu

"Protecting the border" is a battle cry for the most reactionary US politicians but when it comes to flu, they are as unlikely to be successful as they are for people. However it might be the Canadians, who have a functioning public health system, who are most at risk from a surge of US citizens fleeing their own poverty-stricken, understaffed and dysfunctional health care society that will be most interested in keeping those American illegal aliens out of their hospitals. This week the heads of state of Mexico, Canada and the US discussed what to do in a pandemic and they all agreed on the…

Francis Collins will be so disappointed

Collins has argued that one piece of evidence for god is the human moral sense, which he claims could not have evolved. I guess we're going to have to call monkeys our brothers and sisters then, since researchers have found that monkeys have a sense of morality. (Let me guess; he'll just push the magic moment of ensoulment back another 30 million years.) Furthermore, they have explanations for how altruism could have evolved. Some researchers believe we could owe our consciences to climate change and, in particular, to a period of intense global warming between 50,000 and 800,000 years ago.…

Brain Essay Student Contest

Real Life (as well as the framing science debate) took too much of my time and energy and attention so I never got to posting this very inportant notice. I will just copy what Sharp Brains put up, but feel free to write your feedback both to me and to Alvaro: What is the Brain Essay Student Contest? A real-life experiment to connect high-school students and teachers of biology and psychology with science and psychology bloggers. What will happen? 1) Essay submissions by May 10th, 2007: students (or teachers, with students' consent) can use the form below to submit 400-800 word essays on the…

Michael Egnor. Who?

In the back-channels here on Scienceblogs and on Panda's Thumb we were discussing the pros and cons of paying so much attention to one Dr.Michael Egnor, a new creationist shill for the Discovery Institute. Yes, it feels like a tremendous waste of time to debunk incredibly stupid (and incredibly old and well-worn and well-debunked) claims of a very minor figure in the anti-Enlightenment movement. But, who knows, one day he may appear in MSM (you know how they like to show "both sides" of everything!) and some journalist (or just interested people) will like to know who this Michael Egnor is…

Plan B, again

The idiots at ABC News have an article in which they describe the efforts of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to get good information out there about emergency contraception, and they get it all wrong: Plan B, the brand name for emergency contraception, can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus after a woman has unprotected sex or experiences contraceptive failure (like a condom breaking). It has to be taken within 72 hours of having sex and is made of the same hormones used in birth control pills. Look, it prevents ovulation, OK? Not implantation.…

What Is Sleep For?

Back in March 2005, I asked Heinrich of the She Flies With Her Own Wings blog to guest-post on Circadiana. He wrote two nice posts and this is the first of them (March 18, 2005). Perhaps I can get him to do some more... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am really excited to introduce to you my first guest blogger here on Circadiana, Heinrich, not Hindrocket whose blog, She Flies With Her Own Wings (http://coeruleus.blogspot.com/) is a worthy daily read. Heinrich does research on mammalian clocks and sleep, and his first contribution is this post…

Edwards on Hardball last night

If you missed the Hardball last night, you can watch it here. Here is Raleigh News & Observer: 'Hardball' not so hard for Edwards: Likely Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards passed the world leader pop quiz Tuesday night. He correctly identified the leaders of Canada, Mexico, Iraq, Germany, South Africa and Italy when quizzed by Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's "Hardball" program. In fact, Edwards seemed to have little trouble fielding questions, ranging from the war in Iraq to his relative lack of foreign policy experience to his political ties to organized labor, before a live…

Blogrolling: S

S is the most popular initial letter for blog names, it appears! Can you even wade through all of these and remember those I missed? Sadly, No! The Saga of Runolfr Saheli: The Gathering Salamander Candy Salto sobrius Samarkeolog: human rights, cultural heritage and community Sand Creek Almanac Sandwalk Sarah Dessen Sarkar Lab Savage Minds Scared to Health Schneier on Security SciAm Observations Science! Science and Politics (archives) Science and Reason Science and Sarcasm Science and sensibility Science at DailyKos Science Blog - Think. It's not illegal yet. Science Buzz - Dig deeper into…

Fish oil or snake oil?

I don't take vitamins or any other dietary supplements. I have another strategy. I eat a balanced diet. It was advice my father gave his patients about diet: everything in moderation. Moreover I don't trust Big Pharma or many of their subsidiaries or the independent Little Pharmas in the dietary supplements industry, which is notoriously poorly regulated. Those are my prejudices. I mention them so you can evaluate my brining you this little snippet from the news: People who take certain brands of fish oil supplements, seeking benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids are also exposing themselves to…

Afghanistan: War is Kind

We've had other wars besides Iraq and Afghanstan djinned up or whipped on by our "free press." Sometimes it's good to remember that "the power of the press" also meant the power of the person who owned the printing press. People like William Randoph Hearst, who had the power to make "the splendid little war" known as the Spanish American War. The same power also gave us The Philippines via Commodore Dewey's Battle of Manila Bay (referred to by a British historian as "more a military execution than a real contest"). The power that gave us domination over Cuba in the name of Cuban independence…

10 Reasons to Oppose the Escalation of War in Afghanistan

From a reader in Western Massachusetts: 10 Reasons to Oppose the Escalation of War in Afghanistan Human cost of war: Soldier and civilian deaths and injuries have been escalating each year since 2001. Nearly 1000 U.S. soldiers have been killed while 32,000 Afghan civilians have died as a result of the war. Economic cost of war: Each soldier in Afghanistan costs U.S. taxpayers $1 million per year. Private military contractors, known to de-fraud the Pentagon, exceed the number of soldiers in the war. No matter the war’s outcome, the defense industry wins with windfall profits. U.S. economy…

Is It Getting Good To Us?

If you have to accustom yourself to the end of growth, the Onion reassures us that it won't be too hard: 63 percent of Americans said they had come to rely upon the familiar sense of dread that came from knowing the country was quickly losing its place as an economic superpower, while 71 percent described finding a kind of tranquility in the steady, predictable cuts to local, state, and federal funding. In addition, 80 percent reported they had been tightening their belts for so long, the thought of loosening them again after all this time just felt unnatural. "You get used to sending 50…

While I'm Gone...

I've got to leave you with something fun to read. I'll be in Virginia for several days - if you are anywhere near Monticello's Heritage Harvest Festival this Saturday you should come by - it is going to be fabulous.. I'm going to be talking about how Jefferson's idea of "A Nation of Farmers" can be lived today, and I'm giving a workshop on low-energy food preservation, complete with tastings. C'mon by and say hello! I'll be the one following Patti Moreno around admiringly ;-). The family and I are making this an extended holiday (Rosh Hashana) trip with visits to family and friends on the…

ACS Paper Predicts Peak Oil Within the Next Few Years

In an American Chemical Society paper, "Forecasting World Crude Oil Production Using Multicyclic Hubbert Model" authors Ibrahim Sami Nashawi, Adel Malallah and Mohammed Al-Bisharah propose: Even though forecasting should be handled with extreme caution, it is always desirable to look ahead as far as possible to make an intellectual judgment on the future supplies of crude oil. Over the years, accurate prediction of oil production was confronted by fluctuating ecological, economical, and political factors, which imposed many restrictions on its exploration, transportation, and supply and…

Did DOE Chief Scientist Say We're Definitely Going to 550ppm?

Dr. Steven Koonin of the DOE recently spoke about the future of energy and its implications for the goals of the New York State University system. Given that my husband is employed by said system, and in fact teaches Environmental Physics (aka "Here's how to do the math to prove we're doomed ;-)"), this was interesting to me. Neither of us was present for this event, but a friend who was reported that Koonin stated in the presentation, as a representative of the DOE that it unrealistic to expect the US to hold carbon emissions below 450ppm and that 550ppm was the best that could reasonably…

“Small town values”

Once again, the Daily Show punctures the pointless vapidities uttered by politicians — in this case, the phrase "small town values" that was flung about with fervent abandon at the Republican convention, by lots of people who seem to have never been anywhere near a small town. I live in a small town, I like living here, and there are definite advantages to it — it's easy to get to know other members of the community, the life style is a bit more laid back, and a lot of the hassles of just moving around are absent. But small town values? The ones the Republicans are worshipping seem to be the…

waste, waste not

we just switched to a "no can" policy in practise, what this means is that rubbish bins in our offices are no longer emptied (though they are still there, and I helpfully pointed out that most of the bins had not been emptied that one last time when we switched this month - they were emptied this morning...) instead we have 8 (I counted) sorting bins in the hallways, most of which are for recycling, of course this is a good thing, and the goal is to get to zero waste (not possible, too much stuff is wrapped in that unrecyclable soft plastic that ends up in landfills) so now I pile garbage on…

NASA: graduate student fellowships

For many years now, NASA has run a Graduate Student Researcher Program, offering a number of fellowships each year, typically lasting for three year terms. These are the Future Rocket Scientists of America. They are now, apparently, cut. The GSRP takes a number of students per year in astronomy, physics and engineering. The students are usually advanced graduate students working on thesis projects, often quite mission specific, and the program is run through researchers at the NASA Centers, with each center offering a range of topics. Admission is competitive, and the program has been…

Proud Ecuador

When we were in Ecuador, much of the local political discussion was around their efforts to write a new constitution for the country. I'd heard that there were some significantly progressive elements to the work, but this is the first I've seen some of the articles being considered: as is perhaps unsurprising for a nation well-endowed with natural resources and reliant on maintaining those resources to support the economy, they've done something terrific: they've not only written rights for nature (personified as "Pachamama"), but they've acknowledged the importance of evolution. Art. 1.…

My interweb poll-fu is defeated!

It's true, I cannot overcome this poll on WorldNutDaily. They are 'reporting' on the Large Hadron Collider and the weird fact that people are fretting over whether the Swiss will annihilate the word, so they ask their readers about why they're worried. The first way they stumped me was by not giving any good answers (the seventh and eighth are probably closest to what I think). Then they threw in so many possible answers, which contain a lot of insane answers, which I thought at first were intended to be jokes…until I looked and saw that several of the crazy answers were leading in votes. So…

Gore's historic challenge: 100% renewable energy in 10 years

By Michael Stebbins, orginally published at Scientists & Engineers for America Action Fund As the sweat-soaked crowd entered the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall, to hear Al Goreâs energy challenge they were greeted by a blast of air conditioning. Relief! Sweet ironic relief! DC is obscenely hot today, yet, thousands of people were lined up along the street to hear Gore issue what was promised, a truly grand challenge. They were not disappointed. Al Gore issued the challenge of our lifetime⦠âToday I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our…

Participate in the Scientists in Government Project

By Susan F. Wood, PhD Much has been written at the Pump Handle and elsewhere in the media and scientific literature about ensuring that science appropriately drives government policies.  Questions and concerns have abounded regarding inappropriate non-scientific interference, while at the same time many health and environmental agencies (and the scientific staff within them) continue their incredibly important work in research, evaluation, development, regulation and service delivery.  Several organizations have done surveys and developed principles on scientific integrity including the…

Friday Blog Roundup

As rising oil prices continue to grab headlines, the spotlight turns to what politicians are and arenât doing to solve our energy problems. David Roberts at Gristmill is outraged that Senator McCain will miss the vote on the Climate Security Act (true to his pattern of missing 2007 environmental votes). Also at Gristmill, Kate Sheppard  reports on the Investing in Climate Action and Protection Act just unveiled by Representative Ed Markey. And with yet another Gristmill post, James Hansen takes three âGovernors Greenwashâ to task over their failure to deal appropriately with coal-burning…

ConnectiCOSH and Sotomayor

Updated below (7/18/09) What does Supreme Court justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee have to do with a COSH group, specifically the Connecticut Council on Occupational Safety and Health (ConnectiCOSH)? Well, one of the witnesses invited to testify by the minority (Republican) members of the Committee is New Haven, CT fire fighter, Frank Ricci.  He was the lead plaintiff in a discrimination case, ruled upon by a three-judge panel which included judge Sotomayor, and overturned in a 5-4 decision last month by the U.S. Supreme…

When Nanoparticles Wash Away

Investigative journalist Carole Bass has written extensively about nanotechnology, emphasizing how little we know about the risks associated with the nanoparticles now used in a wide range of consumer products, from sunscreen to stain-resistant clothing. Her latest piece, in the new issue of E Magazine, includes an exploration of what these particles do when they wash off our skin and clothing and go down the drain: [Cyndee] Gruden, a civil engineering professor at the University of Toledo in Ohio, is tackling part of that last question by looking at the effects of two nanometalsâtitanium…

A new era for investigating industrial accidents?

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure You probably have never heard of the Chemical Safety Board (unless you are a specialist in that area -- or you read The Pump Handle!). The CSB is an independent government agency that has a pretty low profile. Its mission, as its name implies, is to investigate industrial chemical accidents. The CSB is important enough, however, to have its Board members subject to Senate confirmation. CSB was authorized under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments but didn't become operational until 1998. Thus it has lived most of its life obscured in the shadow of…

Labor Solicitor nominee supports role for victims

During today's confirmation hearing for M. Patricia Smith as Solicitor of Labor, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) referred back to last week's Senate hearing on "Meaningful Roles for Victims and Their Families."  The dialogue went as follows:  00:72:30 Senator Murray:  "This committee has had a number of hearings about workplace accidents and the aftermath.  One of the things that has become apparent is families of victims have very little say in OSHA and MSHA's compliance decsions, and I wanted to ask you if you believe that  OSHA and Regional Solicitors should consult more closely with…

OSHA's small biz list for diacetyl rule

Labor Secretary Solis announced today the next step in OSHA's effort to propose a rule to protect workers exposed to the butter-flavoring agent diacetyl.  The Small Business Administration and OSHA identified 13 "small-entity representatives" (SERs, defined by SBA as companies with 500 or fewer employees nationwide) to serve on the panel which allows them to review the proposed regulatory text and regulatory analysis, and make recommendations for changes to the draft proposed rule before it is published in the Federal Register for the standard public comment period.   In OSHA's letter…

EPA's endangerment finding

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure A little over a week ago the Environmental Protection Agency sent the White House its finding that global warming endangers public health and welfare. This doesn't sound like news, and except for a minority of scientists out there it is very, very old news. But in the context of a 2007 Supreme Court ruling it is indeed big news: The proposal -- which comes in response to a 2007 Supreme Court decision ordering EPA to consider whether carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases should be regulated under the Clean Air Act -- could lay the groundwork for…

Occupational Health News Roundup

The National Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution here in DC, has asbestos in its wall seams â a situation unlikely to pose harm to visitors, but a potential risk to workers who might be cutting or drilling into walls. Seventeen years ago, managers were informed about the presence of asbestos, and a consultantâs report advised that workers be alerted to its presence. But, report James V. Grimaldi and Jacqueline Trescott in the Washington Post, that rarely happened. A year ago, the museum finally held an âasbestos awarenessâ safety briefing for workers, and lighting…

Tainted Food's Toll is Widespread

Revere points out that the peanut industry (and the food industry as a whole) is learning that poor regulation is bad for business. You might run your business according to the highest standards, thatâs not enough. If one of your competitors cuts too many corners and people die as a result, the entire industry will suffer, regardless of how exemplary individual companies might be. Back in 2007, when a rash of toy recalls spooked shoppers, the toy industry actually asked the federal government to require lead testing for all toys sold in the U.S. In 2008, Congress passed and President Bush…

Our Common Purpose

I was on the National Mall yesterday when Barack Obama took the oath of office and gave his inaugural address, and the mood was both delighted and solemn. The densely packed crowd alternated between loud cheers and reverent silence as Obama spoke. Our new president was blunt in his description of our current situation, reminding us that weâre at war, our economy is badly weakened, and our healthcare, education, and energy systems are far from where they should be (full text here). But he expressed confidence that we can meet these challenges: Now, there are some who question the scale of our…

Canada's Deadly Export

The Rotterdam Convention is an agreement addressing international movement of hazardous substances, but of course thereâs a great deal of debate about what qualifies as a hazardous substance. As convention parties met this week, several developing nations spoke up against adding asbestos to this list â and, according to one Canadian MP who attended the meeting as an observer, they did so at Canadaâs behest. For CanWest News Service, Katie Daubs reports: Chrysotile asbestos will remain off a watch list of dangerous UN chemicals for at least another two years, say observers attending the…

Another Worker Dead from Bayer CropScience Explosion

Mr. Bill Oxley was working at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute, WV on August 28.  At about 10:25 pm, a massive fireball erupted at the facility, killing his co-worker, Barry Withrow, 45.  The dramatic facts surrounding this explosion included that plant officials told the dispatchers that an emergency situation was in progress, but as far as giving the 911 operator further details: "I'm only allowed to tell you we have an emergency."  When I originally wrote about this disaster, I only knew this about Mr. Bill Oxley: "A second worker was seriously injured in the explosion and…

Occupational Health News Roundup

This week, North Carolinaâs Charlotte Observer is running an in-depth series, âThe human cost of bringing poultry to your table.â After a 22-month investigation, reporters convey the grim picture: poultry-plant workers suffer high rates of crippling injuries, but fear losing their jobs if they complain, and companies cover up the problem. Observer editor Rick Thames reminds readers that this isnât the first time North and South Carolina have powered their economies on the backs of âa disturbing subclass of compliant workers with few, if any, rights.â He writes: Illegal immigrants often take…

Journal Scan: Speed Kills. So Does Piece Work

A quick look at âPredictors of Psychostimulant Use by Long-Distance Truck Driversâ by Ann Williamson in the American Journal of Epidemiology. An Australian study finds that paying truck drivers by the job (instead of by the hour or week) leads to increased driver use of amphetamines and other stimulants, which is associated with increased risk for highway crashes. Anne Williamson's analysis of self-reported stimulant use among truck drivers found between âone in five and one in three drivers reported using stimulants at least sometimesâ and âstimulant drug use was twice as likely for…

New Ads Tout Safe Water and Eight-Hour Workdays

The Center for American Progress has been running some new TV ads in Midwestern media markets as part of âa pilot experiment to begin defining progressivism in the publicâs mindâ (hat tip to Common Sense). Here are two that are styled after the Mac/PC ads â but in these, the two guys wear stickers identifying them as âProâ and âConâ: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/Ee_WGmMmeTw] Ad 1: Pro: Hi, I'm a progressive. Con: And I'm a conservative. Pro: I've done things like create Social Security, establish the eight-hour work day and pass civil rights laws. Con: I was against every single one of…

Natural News' Mike Adams Adds Global Warming Denialism to HIV/AIDS denial, Anti-vax, Altie-med, Anti-GMO, Birther Crankery

I still think that list is pretty incomplete, the RationalWiki has more, but it's interesting to see a potential internal ideological conflict as Adams sides with big business and the fossil fuel industry to suggest CO2 is the best gas ever. While he doesn't appear to directly deny CO2 is a greenhouse gas, he's managed to merge his anti-government conspiratorial tendencies with his overriding naturalistic fantasy to decide the government (and Al Gore) are conspiring to destroy our power infrastructure with carbon taxes, and deny the world the benefit of 1000ppm CO2 in the atmosphere. His…

Medicare cuts---a bad thing

Look, I know no one is weeping for doctors and their complaints about payment cuts, but you should at least be concerned, and here's why. Some doctors are rich...very rich. Most are not. Medical education is largely financed with debt, and primary care doesn't pay all that much. Small practices work on narrow margins, and often run "paycheck to paycheck". For internists, a large percentage of payments come from Medicare, the national health insurance program that covers seniors. Doctors participate with Medicare voluntarily---there is no law requiring us to see Medicare patients or to…

World Malaria Day

The World Health Organization has declared today World Malaria Day. Why "World Malaria Day"? World Malaria Day is an opportunity for malaria-free countries to learn about the devastating consequences of the disease and for new donors to join a global partnership against malaria. World-wide there are about a million deaths yearly from malaria, mostly in young children. Here in the States, we almost never see malaria. That wasn't always true. When Franklin Roosevelt founded the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933, malaria affected about 30% of the population in the TVA region. With the use…

Edyth London targeted again by animal rights terrorists

I'm very upset to see that following up on previous threats, animal rights terrorists have set fire to a scientist's house. I've been saying for a while that the real threat towards biological science isn't the evolution denialists and other silly cranks' rather laughable attempts at trying to convince people the earth is 6000 years old.The real threat is what we've seen in England and other countries of extremist violence against scientists for using animals in research. These actions are often justified based upon the absurd premise that research can be performed without the use of animals…

Medical Credit Stores: Sorry, You Only Qualify for Subprime Medical Care

Bob Sullivan reports at MSNBC on the early developments of a medical privacy score by Fair Issac, the same company that invented the credit score for lenders. This is somewhat scary, because the entire point of credit scores is to make decision making easier, so easy that people very low on the totem pole can make decisions about you without really thinking, and because it is a number, it is imbued with an air of legitimacy. Credit scores arose after Congress forced consumer reporting agencies to open up their files; scoring allowed companies to put their analysis back into a black box so…

Who's the bigger liability for ID?

I thought Michael Egnor was the DI's biggest liability for stupid arguments. Now I'm thinking based on Aferensis' posts that it's probably Dave Scot based on his suggestion that "All the hominid fossils we have wouldn't fill a single coffin." But my favorite part of how embarrassing he is for humanity is how people, sometimes inadvertently, make predictions about his stupidity. Take this entry on global warming on Mars The planet Mars it seems has heated up a half degree since 1970 just like the Earth has. Its southern ice cap is melting just as the northern glaciers are melting on Earth.…

Fear & vaccines

I realize that, despite the scientific evidence to the contrary, there is still a lot of fear and misunderstanding about vaccine safety. Two recent articles discuss this "epidemic of fear" and why it affects us all, the first here at Wired magazine, and the second here at the Gotham Skeptic. I especially like the second, which has some excellent points: My pediatric practice is situated at the nexus of three Manhattan neighborhoods (the West Village, Chelsea, and the Meat Packing District) that seem to comprise just the right balance of wealth, edginess, and socio-cultural awareness that…

Front row seat for hand, foot, and mouth disease in Asia

I'm taking a quick hiatus from my hiatus. I mentioned that I had quite a bit of travel upcoming, and I happen to be in the midst of my first trip. However, it just so happens that where I've landed--Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia--is experiencing an outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease in kids, caused by Enterovirus-71. More after the jump... You may have read about this virus in prior weeks, as China has been dealing with a major outbreak there: The number of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) cases reported in China this year rocketed to 15,799 as of Tuesday, resulting in 26 deaths, according…

The appropriate responses to Expelled

I think I've said just about everything I can about that contemptible, dishonest propaganda movie starring Ben Stein, so I've been fairly quiet about it lately. It will run its short course in the theaters, and the main result will be that we'll get a few more creationists who, in addition to being grossly ignorant, will be grossly disinformed about science. Thanks to the Expelled gang, creationist arguments will be a little bit stupider. So here are what I think are the best of the responses I've seen so far. Sahotra Sarkar succinctly guts the main points of the movie. (It's also partly in…

Facebook: breastfeeding photos are obscene. Scantily clad college co-eds, fine and dandy.

Facebook, for anyone unfamiliar, is a social networking site, a more organized and less gaudy version of MySpace. Originally started for college students, Facebook opened up to anyone with an email address earlier this year. You can post a mini biography, let others know what you're up to, keep in contact with friends, upload pictures. Of course, not just any pictures will do; Facebook has a user agreement that includes a ban on "pornographic" pictures from their site. This clause recently got Karen Speed, a Canadian mom, in trouble. Facebook originally took down photos it deemed "…

Christine Gorman talks global health

Time journalist (and newly minted Nieman fellow in global health) Christine Gorman recently gave a talk at the Global Health Council's annual meeting. Christine discussed topics that get a lot of press--such as HIV/AIDS--and others that occasionally bubble up to the surface, such as malaria and non-infectious global health issues like female genital mutilation. However, she also noted stories that are rare or missing in mainstream health journalism--more on those after the jump. First, she notes a dearth of stories that "cut across lines, across diseases, across silos." Much like the…