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Books: White Doctors, Black Subjects: Abuse Disguised as Research
By DENISE GRADY, The New York Times, January 23, 2007
The most notorious medical experiment in American history was surely the Tuskegee syphilis study, in which 400 black men with syphilis were left untreated for 40 years, from 1932 until 1972, so government doctors could study the course of the disease. The experiment ended only because a journalist exposed it, igniting a firestorm of public outrage over its racism and cruelty. By then, as many as 100 of the men had already died of syphilis.
Tuskegee was just part of a pattern of experimental abuse, one of many shameful chapters in what Harriet A. Washington calls “the long, unhappy history of medical research with black Americans.”
Ms. Washington, a journalist and research scholar in ethics, writes in “Medical Apartheid” that this history has left blacks with an ugly legacy of distrust for research and even treatment, and that it is a lingering stain on the history of medicine.
( Read More )
Study Says Tapping of Granite Could Unleash Energy Source
By ANDREW C. REVKIN, The New York Times, January 23, 2007
The United States could generate as much electricity by 2050 as that flowing today from all of the country’s nuclear power plants by developing technologies that tap heat locked in deep layers of granite, according to a new study commissioned by the Energy Department.
( Read More )
Five New Satellites With a Mission of Finding a Source of Color in Space
By WARREN E. LEARY, The New York Times, January 23, 2007
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 — NASA will soon launch a fleet of five spacecraft in hopes of solving the mystery of how the greenish auroras above the Earth’s poles suddenly burst into shimmering multicolor lights.
The quintet of identical satellites, NASA’s first attempt to launch so many satellites on a single rocket, will be positioned in orbits inside the magnetic field surrounding Earth to look for the origin of sudden energy outbursts that enliven the northern and southern lights.
The space probes are part of a mission called Themis, short for Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms, which is designed to find the trigger point of geomagnetic substorms that can spring up within minutes to brighten auroras and release bursts of potentially damaging radiation.
( Read More )
Vital Signs: Consequences: Gun Ownership Linked to Higher Homicide Rates
By ERIC NAGOURNEY, The New York Times, January 23, 2007
States with the greatest number of guns in the home also have the highest rates of homicide, a new study finds.
The study, in the February issue of Social Science and Medicine, looked at gun ownership in all 50 states and then compared the results with the number of people killed over a three-year period.
The research, the authors said, “suggests that household firearms are a direct and an indirect source of firearms used to kill Americans both in their homes and on the streets.”
( Read More )
Really? The Claim: Drinking Tea Reduces Stress
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times, January 23, 2007
THE FACTS Some call it nature’s tranquilizer, able to smooth away stress and lift the spirits. But are the stress-reducing powers of tea fact or fiction?
( Read More )
By DENISE GRADY, The New York Times, January 23, 2007
The most notorious medical experiment in American history was surely the Tuskegee syphilis study, in which 400 black men with syphilis were left untreated for 40 years, from 1932 until 1972, so government doctors could study the course of the disease. The experiment ended only because a journalist exposed it, igniting a firestorm of public outrage over its racism and cruelty. By then, as many as 100 of the men had already died of syphilis.
Tuskegee was just part of a pattern of experimental abuse, one of many shameful chapters in what Harriet A. Washington calls “the long, unhappy history of medical research with black Americans.”
Ms. Washington, a journalist and research scholar in ethics, writes in “Medical Apartheid” that this history has left blacks with an ugly legacy of distrust for research and even treatment, and that it is a lingering stain on the history of medicine.
( Read More )
Study Says Tapping of Granite Could Unleash Energy Source
By ANDREW C. REVKIN, The New York Times, January 23, 2007
The United States could generate as much electricity by 2050 as that flowing today from all of the country’s nuclear power plants by developing technologies that tap heat locked in deep layers of granite, according to a new study commissioned by the Energy Department.
( Read More )
Five New Satellites With a Mission of Finding a Source of Color in Space
By WARREN E. LEARY, The New York Times, January 23, 2007
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 — NASA will soon launch a fleet of five spacecraft in hopes of solving the mystery of how the greenish auroras above the Earth’s poles suddenly burst into shimmering multicolor lights.
The quintet of identical satellites, NASA’s first attempt to launch so many satellites on a single rocket, will be positioned in orbits inside the magnetic field surrounding Earth to look for the origin of sudden energy outbursts that enliven the northern and southern lights.
The space probes are part of a mission called Themis, short for Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms, which is designed to find the trigger point of geomagnetic substorms that can spring up within minutes to brighten auroras and release bursts of potentially damaging radiation.
( Read More )
Vital Signs: Consequences: Gun Ownership Linked to Higher Homicide Rates
By ERIC NAGOURNEY, The New York Times, January 23, 2007
States with the greatest number of guns in the home also have the highest rates of homicide, a new study finds.
The study, in the February issue of Social Science and Medicine, looked at gun ownership in all 50 states and then compared the results with the number of people killed over a three-year period.
The research, the authors said, “suggests that household firearms are a direct and an indirect source of firearms used to kill Americans both in their homes and on the streets.”
( Read More )
Really? The Claim: Drinking Tea Reduces Stress
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times, January 23, 2007
THE FACTS Some call it nature’s tranquilizer, able to smooth away stress and lift the spirits. But are the stress-reducing powers of tea fact or fiction?
( Read More )
