Month: August 2007

New Yorkers Last Longer

- Adam Clare

New York is a healthy place to live – that may come as a surprise to people who remember New York being a cesspool of yesteryear. New York amgazine has an article on why New Yorkers last longer and how as whole New York breeds a healthy lifestyle.

Things Are Good readers should know that cities as a whole are becoming more attractive to live in for health reasons. The more urban the better. Cities are more walkable than suburban and rural areas and they provide more opportunities for innovation and progress.

From the New York magazine article:

The health difference was shockingly large: A white man who lived in a more urban, mixed-use area was fully ten pounds lighter than a demographically identical guy who lived in a sprawling suburb.
…
Interestingly, urban theorists believe it is not just the tightly packed nature of the city but also its social and economic density that has life-giving properties. When you’re jammed, sardinelike, up against your neighbors, it’s not hard to find a community of people who support you—friends or ethnic peers—and this strongly correlates with better health and a longer life. Then there are economies of scale: A big city has bigger hospitals that can afford better equipment—the future of medicine arrives here first. We also tend to enjoy healthier food options, since demanding foodies (vegetarians and the like) are aggregated in one place, making it a mecca for farm-fresh produce and top-quality fish, chicken, and beef. There’s also a richer cultural scene than in a small town, which helps keep people out and about and thus mentally stimulated.

Euro-centric Thinkers Humbled

- Adam Clare

In every science text book I’ve seen only European thinkers are praised for their discoveries and this was to go unquestioned. As a result of my education I take great pleasure when those who wrote the books (so to speak) are proven horribly wrong. It boils down to the fact I like seeing credit given to those who deserve it.

Sir Isaac Newton is credited with discovering a cornerstone of modern mathematics, but in reality a group of Indians made that discovery 250 years before Newton!

The team from the Universities of Manchester and Exeter reveal the Kerala School also discovered what amounted to the Pi series and used it to calculate Pi correct to 9, 10 and later 17 decimal places.

And there is strong circumstantial evidence that the Indians passed on their discoveries to mathematically knowledgeable Jesuit missionaries who visited India during the fifteenth century.

That knowledge, they argue, may have eventually been passed on to Newton himself.

Trouble for Tumors

- Adam Clare

A British Columbia team of researchers have discovered that a gene, HACE1, can greatly limit the growth of tumors. This is promising research because HACE1 can influence many kinds of cancerous tumors.

Scientists at the BC Cancer Agency have discovered a gene they believe can suppress the growth of tumours for a wide variety of cancers – a discovery that could lead to new treatments.

Get a Perfect Career

- Adam Clare

I have good news for you: you don’t have to work at a job you don’t like! Yahoo Finance has an op-ed about finding the job you love.

Some selected excerpts from the article:

3. Stop saying financial issues hold you back.

Don’t use your financial constraints as a way to get out of making adult decisions. You can change your job or your career no matter where you are in life.

Look, this is all good news. You’re in control of your life, and you decide where you’ll work and how optimistic you’re going to be.

You can choose to complain and be angry that other people have more than you, or you can choose to consciously go after what you want every day of your life.

Via LifeHack

India to Continue Producing Generic Drugs

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

EarthTrends is reporting that an Indian court has ruled against a large pharmacutical company, which means that India can continue to manfuacture their own drugs without paying exuberant fees to the phramacutical company. Like in Rwanda, India will be producing the drugs to treat people suffering from HIV/AIDs.

Monday’s decision is a major development in the ongoing and often contentious debate over pharmaceutical patents and their impact on access to essential medicines, which has pitted aid agencies and developing countries against large drug companies and the governments of high-income nations.

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