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Archives
At UNH, Hoping the Swine Flu Doesn't Arrive
By Elaine Grant on Monday, August 31, 2009.Health officials are estimating that as many as a third to a half of all Americans will get the H1N1 flu this year.
Typically, it’s the very young and the very old who are at greatest risk for the seasonal flu.
But H1N1 is different.
Young adults up to the age of 24 are among those at greatest risk for this new strain.
And that means colleges and universities are already trying to ward off an onslaught of illness.
NHPR’s health reporter Elaine Grant has more.
Geriatric For A Fortnight
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, August 31, 2009.
For ten days this summer, Viki Johnson lived in a nursing home. Confined to a wheel chair, she was given sponge baths and had to wait for an aid to place her on the toilet. Unlike the other nursing home residents, Viki is in her twenties and perfectly healthy. She’s a second year medical student participating in the Learning By Living program at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine.
Each summer, a few medical students are given fake diagnoses and placed in nursing homes to see what it’s like to live as a resident. Viki Johnson joins us to tell us what she learned, along with Dr. Marilyn Gugliucci, Director of Geriatric Education and Research at the University of New England and creator of the program.
New York Times: Experiencing Life, Briefly, Inside a Nursing Home
(Photo by consumerfriendly via Flickr/Creative Commons)
What are the environmental pros and cons of baby formula?
By EarthTalk on Sunday, August 30, 2009.
EarthTalk®
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
Redesign Your Farmers' Market
By Avishay Artsy on Friday, August 28, 2009.The good folks at GOOD Magazine have a contest to redesign your local farmer's market, and they've just put out three entries from the bumper crop of submissions they've received.
Keep Swine Flu in Perspective
By Elaine Grant on Friday, August 28, 2009.The media this week have been reporting dire predictions about the effects of the second wave of swine flu this fall.
As kids are heading off to school, parents are reading reports that children and young people may be most affected by H1N1.
But public health officials are asking people to keep the news and predictions in perspective.
Dr. Jose Montero is New Hampshire's Director of Public Health.
He tell's NHPR's Elaine Grant that it is in our power to limit the damage from this new strain of flu.
Is The Internet Killing Slang?
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, August 26, 2009.
There's no doubt that technology is changing the English language, what with Twitter and OMG text messaging. Whether that’s a good thing depends on your point of view, but clearly the internet has introduced a whole new world of slang. Urbandictionary.com is one of many sites that lists buzz words, catch phrases, and geek speak. The next time you wonder exactly what your kids are talking about, you can log on and start deciphering.
That's good news for you, bad news for them, and it may be bad news for slang in general. According to reporter Douglas Quenqua, the internet could be hurting underground language by spreading it around. He wrote on the topic for The New York Times, and he joins us to tell us more.
The New York Times: From Hip to Lame in All of 20 Seconds
(Photo by weeta via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Is Addiction A Choice?
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, August 25, 2009.For decades, the medical and recovery communities have held that addiction is a disease. The National Institutes of Health compare drug and alcohol addiction to type-two diabetes and cancer.
In a provocative new book Addiction: A Disorder of Choice psychologist Gene Heyman argues that addiction is not a disease, but a series of bad decisions. Heyman is a research psychologist at McLean Hospital and a lecturer in psychology at Harvard Medical School. Heyman presents evidence suggesting that addiction is a voluntary behavior instead of a disease. Gene Heyman joins us on the line to lay out his argument.
The Star: Addiction: Could it be a big lie?
The Boston Globe: Is addiction a choice?
(Photo by ozjimbob via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Self Defense for Indian Women
By Peter Aronson on Monday, August 24, 2009.
They may not talk about it much, but Indian women know that violence against women is rampant in their country. The perpetrators are not just strangers on buses, streets and in fields, but also fathers, uncles, husbands and even sons. With hardly anyone to turn to, some women are learning how to stand up for themselves. Women are training other women in self defense — in secret, behind closed doors.
The Future of Farming
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, August 24, 2009.
The world population is steadily growing. Projections say that by 2050 there will be nine billion people on earth, requiring twice as much food from fewer arable acres. Science writer Hilary Rosner put together a list of eight high-tech solutions for feeding the planet. Some of the ideas include farming the desert, creating better soil sensors, and growing genetically-modified "super rice." The list is featured in Popular Science, and she joins us for our "next green thing" series.
Popular Science: The Future of Farming: Eight Solutions For a Hungry World
(Photo by Powerhouse Museum)
Building A Better Juice Box
By Avishay Artsy on Thursday, August 20, 2009.Don't you hate it when you're trying to squeeze all the juice out of a juice box and it ends up spraying all over your freshly-washed shirt? Yeah, we know how you feel. It's one of the oldest problems known to kids, and their parents. Fortunately, an inventor has a solution - a better juice box straw. But, as Failure Magazine reports, it may never see the light of day.
