Weed Entrepreneurs
During the last major election, there was a lot of talk about getting the economy kick-started. Words like “innovation”, “education” and “entrepreneur” were tossed about with reckless abandon. By a rather narrow margin of the popular vote, the American people felt that Barack Obama was the best equipped to turn things around. Another result of […]
Generational Drugs
There are a number of drugs that are taken on a large scale by people who are fundamentally fine. Alcohol and marijuana come to mind. There is a rich history of others. Valium, which was introduced in 1963, had become the best-selling prescription drug in America by 1979. Fifty years ago, Big Pharma saw a […]
Marijuana Cures Cancer
A couple of San Francisco scientists announced what may prove to be a breakthrough in cancer research. It turns out that marijuana, which molecular biologists refer to as “cannabis” to improve their odds of getting funded, contains a promising substance called Cannabidiol. CBD, for short, is non-toxic, non-psychoactive, and capable of turning off the genetic […]
Male Contraceptives
The beginning of the sexual revolution is often tied to the birth control pill, which allowed women to separate recreation from procreation. Suddenly it was OK for women to enjoy sex just like men, and our entire culture changed and has never looked back. Women have always said that it makes more sense to shoot […]
Longevity
The best way to increase your life expectancy is to choose your parents carefully. If that didn’t work out so well, then plenty of exercise combined with proper nutrition will definitely extend your stay on the planet. These facts are well known, timeless, and probably wrong. The Japanese apparently know something that we don’t; they […]
The Good Grade Pill
“One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small. And the ones that mother gives you, don’t do anything at all.” (opening lines of “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane). Just as physics teaches us that nature seeks the lowest possible energy state, so are humans wired to search for the “Easy Button”, or […]
The Future of Football
Mention a sudden motion of the head and for a neuroscientist, the word concussion comes to mind. The result is a scrambling of the electrical circuitry in the brain, producing some combination of headache, memory loss, confusion, blurred vision or unconsciousness. In the world of professional fighting, where the objective is to knock […]
America is Fat
America is fat. We are ready and able to hibernate. We have gorged on sugars and carbs, storing up enough energy in our girth to survive a very long winter. If it comes down to survival of the fattest, we are the odds on favorites. There is more at stake here than just […]
Rush to Judgment
Dr. Benjamin Rush was a highly respected physician and medical administrator in the early 1800’s. He was enormously influential, and widely known as a man who got things done. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and is one of the founders of American psychiatry. Dr. Rush did not […]
Managed Care
My annual physical used to begin with a visit to my doctor’s office, where lab work would be completed by his nurse. About a week later, I would report to the same office where the same nurse would take an EKG, the “vitals”, and lead me to my doctor’s office. He would chat with […]
