Science Issues

The internet does not replace health professionals, but rather provides a way for people to gather and share information in a rapid-learning system that can best be described as "participatory medicine."

Overview A majority of Americans see the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico as a major environmental disaster, but nearly as many voice optimism that efforts to control the spill will succeed. The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted May 6-9 among 994 adults, […]

Americans are critical of the government's response to the environmental disaster in the Gulf, but even more so of BP. Support for offshore oil drilling is down, though Republican opinion is unchanged.

As I've written before, I love questions. It's an honor to be handed someone's nascent idea and to help them shape it (which is what I think a question really is). But this time I'm asking for YOUR input.

If someone is motivated enough to dig, interested enough to analyze, and knowledgeable enough about their chosen topic to see data with fresh eyes, they can start a revolution...

Highlights from some of the key presentations made at a National Institutes of Health workshop held in November 2009.

A conversation with Susannah Fox and Thomas Goetz, executive editor of Wired Magazine, at the Pew Research Center in Washington DC.

What does the internationalization of information mean for patients and health professionals? What are the strengths - and weaknesses - of online patient communities?

Overview With a growing number of states moving to legalize medical marijuana, nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) say they favor their state allowing the sale and use of marijuana for medical purposes if it is prescribed by a doctor, while 23% are opposed. Support for legalizing medical marijuana spans all major political and demographic groups, […]

The back-story on the report, "Chronic Disease and the Internet," including answers to questions about probability vs. causality and why we included quotes from patients throughout the analysis.