A pandemic is defined as a disease epidemic occurring over a widespread geographic area. Whether technically a pandemic or not, the world has experienced many large outbreaks of disease–examples include the Black Death (bubonic plague) which affected Asia and Europe and peaked in the mid 1300’s to the Spanish influenza outbreak of 1918-1919 which killed…

Autism represents a wide spectrum of disorders that impact how a person relates to and communicates with other people. Effects include a variety of social difficulties, “atypical” uses of language, and “restricted or repetitive behaviors.” Autism is not new; examples of individuals can be found throughout history. In recent years, there has been controversy over…

Are integrity and honesty important? Do they actually mean enough that they can cause engagement, action, a change of behavior in other people? Are they a fundamental core in humans? Something that remains and is strong enough to rise above greed, corruption, narcissism, and dishonesty?   Quick bibliography: Articles–classic and recent–on the impact of integrity…

https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMcibr0809610 **created June 2021** Brown adipose tissue, or brown fat, is a type of fat cell that converts energy into body heat when food is eaten and digested, as opposed to white adipose tissue, or white fat, that is more plentiful and accumulates in noticeable parts of the body (for example, the belly) when too…

The western United States (including parts of the Great Plains) is going through an historic period of drought–a level of extended drought that the region has not seen in potentially hundreds of years. “All told, nearly 85% of the West is suffering through drought conditions right now, according to the US Drought Monitor. Almost half the…

Fear is corrosive whether caused by events outside our immediate control or if purposefully used (for example, by politicians trying to gain or consolidate power). Fear impacts the decisions we make and the actions we take. We do things we would not do if the fear was not present. We believe things we normally would…

 Reviews/recent articles on facial recognition–the technology and the privacy concerns. **updated January 2022** Classic reviews: *Bowyer, K. W. (2004). Face recognition technology: security versus privacy.  IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 23(1), 9-19. [PDF] [Cited by] “Video surveillance and face recognition systems have become the subject of increased interest and controversy after the September 11 terrorist…

Quick bibliography: Reviews/articles on the importance of adequate sleep for good physical and mental health. **updated July 2021** Classic reviews: *Dewald, J. F., Meijer, A. M., Oort, F. J., Kerkhof, G. A., & Bögels, S. M. (2010). The influence of sleep quality, sleep duration and sleepiness on school performance in children and adolescents: A meta-analytic…

Quick bibliography: Reviews/recent articles on sea level rise and climate change. **Updated November 2021** Classic reviews: *Hallegatte, S., Green, C., Nicholls, R. J., & Corfee-Morlot, J. (2013). Future flood losses in major coastal cities. Nature Climate Change, 3(9), 802-806. [PDF] [Cited by] “Flood exposure is increasing in coastal cities owing to growing populations and assets,…

Quick bibliography: Reviews/recent articles on Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)–a sign of our times? **Updated January 2021** Classic review: *Tyrer, P. & Baldwin, D. (2006). Generalised anxiety disorder. Lancet,  368 (9553), 2156-2166. [PDF] [Cited by] “Generalised anxiety disorder is a persistent and common disorder, in which the patient has unfocused worry and anxiety that is not…