Gone Fishing

Will be posting again on April 9.

Update on Elizabeth Edwards

From the American Cancer Society:"The survival statistics on the American Cancer Society Web site and in Cancer Facts & Figures apply to a woman who presents initially with a stage IV breast cancer, not a woman who has a recurrence after primary treatment. The outlook for a woman who walks into the doctor's office with metastatic disease is significantly worse than for a woman, like Mrs Edwards,

Price of Contraceptive Pill Soars on Campus

Prices for birth control pills on college campuses are doubling and tripling thanks to a complex change in Medicaid rules.Justin Pope of the Associated Press has done a little digging and found the reason why the price of birth control pills has gone up on college campuses. As he explains:"The change is the result of a chain reaction started by a 2005 deficit-reduction bill that focused on

Using Customized Search to Target Original Documents

I've created a customized search engine that favors results from original documents in medical journals, government sites and a few carefully selected (and labelled) blogs. Give it a try--it's on the right-hand side of this blog (used to be in the upper-right corner). I think you'll find it returns top-quality results with fewer distractions.Using a regular search engine often brings up sites

Breast Cancer: What Betty, Nancy And Now Elizabeth Have Taught US

See update below.Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth today announced that her breast cancer has returned and spread, or metastasized, to her bones. While most media outlets considered the political implications of such news, it's important to consider the human consequences as well.Elizabeth Edwards, 57, has Stage IV breast cancer. The average five-year

Lots of Juice Linked to Obesity

We're constantly being bombarded by messages about health--like this photo I snapped of the side of a truck, advertising the POM brand of fruit juices and tea. Notice how the "O" in POM is shaped like a heart. Must be good for you--right? After all, fruits are good for you; they're full of anti-oxidants and all that good stuff.But fruit juices are also full of calories. Sixteen ounces of POM (480

The Stress of Writing About Stress

Now it can be told. Back in January when I wrote "Six Lessons for Handling Stress" (TIME issue dated Jan. 29, 2007), I was under a tremendous amount of pressure myself. I knew layoffs were coming and I was seriously considering leaving the magazine to pursue other projects.So I actually used the tips I was researching to try to keep myself sane. I can tell you that the three I found most helpful