In The News

How Global Trade Can Rein in Health Costs

Dean Baker, Jagdish Bhagwati September 21, 2011
Rising healthcare costs contribute to the ballooning US budget deficits, and the US has thus far resisted public health plans mandating universal coverage. Opening the US market to international competition could offer a means to disciplining the industry and reducing costs, explains economists Jagdish Bhagwati and Dean Baker for CNN Money, adding that “medical care of comparable quality is...

Portable Microscope Detects Bacteria Using Holograms

September 19, 2011
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, recently developed a portable microscope that detects bacteria using holograms, an invention that promises to have far-reaching effects in the developing world and telemedicine. The handheld device costs less than $100 to build. Rather than optics, the device relies on a digital photo sensor, common in iPhones, to magnify images of...

Blinded by Science

Timothy Caulfield August 26, 2011
The unscrupulous know the desperately sick will risk all for potential cures. Experimental stem-cell treatment is but the latest quest in medical tourism, propelled by the internet and social media. Patients with autism, Alzheimer’s and other conditions travel to China, India or Central America seeking treatment from providers “generating false hope, robbing families of their resources, and...

SA Innovation Bears Fruit in the US

July 27, 2011
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved use of ultraviolet light technology for purifying fruit juice, an alternative to pasteurization for eliminating harmful pathogens, reports the Mail & Guardian. SurePure, a South African company that developed the technology says it offers” greater microbiological efficacy than conventional UV systems and is effective for both clear and turbid...

BC Eyes Ban on Home Use of Pesticides

Randy Shore July 8, 2011
Flawless lawns without insects are unnatural, but that does not stop homeowners from striving for that goal. Canada’s British Columbia government is preparing legislation that would ban homeowners’ use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes, reports Randy Shore for the Calgary Herald. Lawn chemicals have been linked to leukemia and other cancers, with children especially susceptible. Nearly 40...

Eastern Japan Edgy as Power Demand Soars

July 4, 2011
Japan has a tradition of conservation – and awareness about power usage – that serves the nation well through the current nuclear disaster. Households are accustomed to monitoring temperatures, generating capacity, power loads and comparing power supply and demand with a competitive spirit. A range of policy adjustments and public alerts are preventing severe power shortages. “Now that energy...

Costa Rica’s Pineapple Boom Unhealthy, Warn Experts

Will Ferguson June 7, 2011
Costa Rica is one of the world's top five pineapple-producing nations. With growing demand for the healthy fruit, farmers expand their fields. Concern is emerging among growers in Costa Rica as “the industry has been associated with the deterioration and erosion of soils, the destruction of ecosystems and the contamination of water supplies,” writes Will Ferguson for the Tico Times. Farmers...