In The News

How the US Exports Its Mental Illness

Ethan Watters January 28, 2010
Mental illness is experienced differently around the world. But with Americans dominating the discussion on mental health, how such diseases are classified and treated has become homogenized. This could end up causing more harm than good. Exacerbating the situation is the presence of multinational drug companies that need to sell more product. For example, in Japan, whose clinical definition of...

Cold War Offered Odd Benefit – It Limited Species Invasions

January 11, 2010
For supporters of globalization, isolationism is usually thought to have negative consequences. But for Eastern Europe, cut off during the Cold War, such isolation had a positive impact on preventing environmental damage that can occur from the influx of invasive species – birds, in this case. A study conducted by scientists at Oregon State University found that Eastern Europe saw its non-...

Scientists Use Cell Phone Records to Predict Spread of Malaria

Aaron Hoover December 18, 2009
Employing a method for epidemiology research from Europe, scientists at the University of Florida have used cell phones records to track the how malaria might spread in Zanzibar. Calls made by Zanzibar residents while travelling in Tanzania were recorded, showing a small group occasionally visits a region with a high rate of malarial infection. While individuals don’t infect one another with the...

How Europe's Discarded Computers Are Poisoning Africa's Kids

Clemens Höges December 9, 2009
Twenty years ago, the international community drew up the Basel Convention in order to prevent developed nations from dumping their computer scraps in the developing world. Yet, the last two decades have shown that enforcing such a treaty is difficult. Some countries, such as the US, still haven't ratified the treaty; meanwhile, those who have, such as Germany, still struggle to abide by it...

Globalization: Diseases Spreading From Humans to Animals, Study Finds

October 29, 2009
For the first time since animal domestication 10,000 years ago, a disease has spread from humans to animals. A new study from the University of Edinburgh shows how a version of the staph infection started in humans, spread to chickens, and then spread throughout the global poultry industry. Diseases are a major threat to the poultry industry. One of the study’s authors suggests that the global...

Swine Flu Fears Hit Saudi Religious Tourism

September 30, 2009
Mecca, the birthplace of the prophet Mohammed and city to which many Muslims make a pilgrimage as a tenet of Islam, is gripped with fear about the swine flu. Hotel occupancy rates have fallen 33 to 55 percent compared to last year. And the prime period of Hajj, when the majority of pilgrims convene in Mecca, is still two months away. While Saudi Arabia generally doesn’t attract as many tourists...

Globalization, AIDS, and the Pornography Industry

September 4, 2009
Propelled by globalization, pornography has found an audience among individuals in the far corners of the world with serious consequences. In some places, like in parts of Africa, where electricity is a luxury, villagers have nevertheless viewed pornographic media from California. And the preponderance of such media is having a chilling effect on public health.. In many of these regions, the...