Rachael Coakley— The recent FDA decision to approve the use of OxyContin for children ages 11–17 has raised heated controversy from politicians, parents, and pediatric providers alike. OxyContin, a highly concentrated, slow-release opioid can offer twelve hours of continuous pain coverage. When OxyContin was first approved for adult chronic pain
Rosaleen Duffy— Since 2013 claims have been circulating that ivory is a major source of funding for Al Shabaab in Somalia, and it has even been called the “white gold of jihad.” This is a powerful message—and one that is promoted by some wildlife conservation organisations, representatives in the US
This piece at the intersection of Art + Science is a post written by a former Yale University Press intern after she visited the 2012 exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center, The Islands of Benoît Mandelbrot: Fractals, Chaos, and the Materiality of Thinking. The book that accompanied the exhibition shares its title,
Christian W. McMillen— Every spring, on March 24, the WHO, the CDC, and others celebrate—maybe commemorate is a better word—World TB Day. The date memorializes the day in 1882 that Robert Koch discovered Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It’s a day also devoted to bringing attention to tuberculosis, to recognizing that it’s still
Bernie Krause— Nearly twenty years ago, while exploring links between natural soundscapes and music, my dear late father-in-law introduced me to the writings of Paul Shepard. The book, The Others: How Animals Made Us Human, contained a chapter titled “The Gift of Music.” One particular line in that section stood
Dieter Helm’s The Carbon Crunch takes a look at the world’s failure to adequately address climate change and proposes pragmatic, much-needed solutions. The following excerpt is from the preface to the revised and updated edition. The underlying position continues to deteriorate. In 2012, another 2 parts per million (ppm) of
Lara V. Marks— August 2015 marks the fortieth anniversary of the creation of monoclonal antibodies (Mabs). Invisible to the naked eye, Mabs are laboratory-produced antibodies derived from the millions of antibodies the body makes every day to fight foreign invaders. Since their birth, Mabs have radically transformed understandings about the
Jerry Kaplan, author of Humans Need Not Apply, says the robots are coming, but whether they will be working on behalf of society or a small cadre of the super-rich is very much in doubt. We sat down with him to discuss what the future may look like and how
In 1936, Edwin Hubble compiled a book based on his lectures on nebulae and astronomical observation. Hubble’s landmark contributions to astronomy include his conclusion that there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way and his demonstration that the universe is expanding. The following is an excerpt from his introduction, on the
Olivia Weisser— As a historian of medicine, I have spent a significant amount of time combing through first-hand accounts of illness. My work focuses on the 1600s and 1700s, so much of these first-hand accounts are recorded in personal writing like diaries and letters. Over the years, I noticed a