In The News

Animals: The World's Best (and Cheapest) Biosensors

Laura H. Kahn March 19, 2007
Biodiversity is probably the best protection against any biohazard that could hit the globe. Governments invest millions in technology to detect biohazards, but cannot expect to detect every possible problem with a gadget, argues Laura Kahn in “The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.” Animals and humans may be separate species, but diseases evolve and adapt, and often emerge in select animal...

While You're at It, Why Not Generate a Little Electricity

Jane Spencer March 6, 2007
People who perform hard workouts in a gym enjoy monitoring their efforts. Now gym managers can provide a new way to measure progress, by supplying batteries that store the energy released on exercise equipment. For now, the cost of capturing the energy far exceeds any savings – a gym in Hong Kong invested $15,000 in the battery equipment and wiring that generates less than $200 worth of...

US Heading For Financial Trouble?

Steve Kroft March 5, 2007
The US weakens its own security by borrowing vast sums from China and other nations to pay for reckless spending with little accountability. The nation, by not reducing spending or restructuring its health-care system over the next 20 years, will have to prepare for bankruptcy, insists David Walker, the US comptroller general, who has gone on tour to urge voters and politicians to oppose the...

Who Should Foot the Bill on Climate Change?

Scott Barrett March 2, 2007
While the historic responsibility for the current state of atmospheric greenhouse gases lies with the now-developed countries, the fastest growing emitters are currently in the developing world. Scott Barrett, director of the International Policy Program at Johns Hopkins University, argues that it is in everyone’s interest to pursue the most efficient policy rather than the apparently populist...

Polio Cases Jump in Pakistan as Clerics Declare Vaccination an American Plot

Declan Walsh February 22, 2007
Pakistan’s remote northwestern frontier, one of the few remaining hotspots of polio in the world, has been a major focus of efforts to eradicate the disease. Now, however, health workers in Pakistan face a new obstacle: political fallout from the US-led war on terror. Local tribal and religious leaders have convinced thousands to refuse polio vaccinations in the belief that the vaccine is an...

Globalization Forces a Health-Check of US Auto Industry

Susan Froetschel February 19, 2007
Of the top six automobile-manufacturing countries in the world, the US and China are the only ones that lack universal government-backed health care. US workers expect employers like Ford, General Motors and Chrysler to provide cradle-to-grave health coverage, a significant cost burden not shared by competitors. The problem is exacerbated by health plans for retired employees – every plant...

Thai Move to Trim Drug Costs Highlights Growing Patent Rift

Nicholas Zamiska February 8, 2007
Thailand’s plan to lower the price of pharmaceuticals for its citizens by ignoring existing patents reignites the debate between health advocates and supporters of intellectual-property rights. At the center of the conflict is a dispute over what will save the most lives in the long term. By ignoring patents, the government can lower its drug costs and therefore provide twice as many people with...