Virginia Postrel says It’s the worst regulatory news I’ve heard in a long time–and it predates the new administration by a half year. Sidney Wolfe, who seemingly never met a new drug or device he thought should be legal, has been named to four-year term on the FDA’s Drug Safety and Risk Management Committee. He’s…
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The price drug companies pay for illegally marketing drugs for off-label (tnat is, non-FDA-approved) uses just got higher. Such off-label pushing has been a growing problem the past few years, as drug companies sought to expand the use and thus the profit from established drugs. Doctors are free to prescribe drugs for off-label uses —…
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Someone finally did a review study on TV — including “educational DVDs” — and infants. Among results that should not surprise … Watching TV programmes or DVDs aimed at infants can actually delay language development, according to a number of studies. For example, a 2008 Thai study published in Acta Paediatrica found that if children…
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Neil Young at HuffPo. Life is good.
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Caleb Carr on why he remains pessimistic about reading despite the recent National Endowment of the Arts report showing a reversal last year in a 25-year decline in reading. It’s a good consideration of several ways i which the data might be a mismeasure or a misleading anomaly.
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1. Andrew Sullivan trashed Bono for his Times column (judge it yourself and summarize it in a contest if you’d like) — and trashed Bono’s lyrics as well. 2. A reader objected, saying Bono’s lyrics weren’t ALL so bad. 3. Sullivan half-conceded — and posted this video. Mess not with Andrew.
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Steven Waldman: Why the Huffington Post Can’t Replace The New York Times The idea that the Huffington Post, or the explosion of interesting internet news or blogging sites, can replace journalistic institutions like the New York times or other newspapers or dinosaurs of the mainstream media truly misunderstands the web, newspapers, journalism and the serious…
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Rolling deadlines have kept me from the blogging desk, but I can occupy it long enough now to call out a few items that either haven’t received as much coverage as they might have — or that have gotten several interesting hits. • At Huffpost, Jeanne Lenzer and Shannon Brownlee offer the FDA a three-step…
William J. Broad’s Times piece on the new National Geographic “Ocean – An Illustrated Atlas gives a nice look at both the book — and gives long-overdue and well-deserved attention to oceanographer Sylvia Earle, who co-authored the Atlas.
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The bloggers at the design firm Pentagram know how to write a lede: During the financially dismal 2008 holiday shopping season, one product held up nicely: bras. Some great design worth exploring there, from the outfit that did the signage for the front of the Times building and the Atlantic redesign.
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