When surfing online forums, I have become accustomed to expecting the unexpected; however, coming across a website about new economic currencies, I was surprised to find a forum entitled ‘Medical Consult for Bitcoins.’  On this forum, individuals have written about their medical problems, agreeing to pay for medical advice posted in a response by a fellow member of the anonymous online community.  Once receiving the advice, the ‘patient’ would then pay – not with Dollars, Euros, or even Groupons – but by ‘Bitcoin.’

‘Bitcoin’ is the name of the monetary unit within the world’s first fully online payment system or currency.…

When my wife (a librarian) was first working at an academic library I learned a lot about collection development, including how librarians decided which journals they would subscribe to. 25 years ago, there were reference publications that provided librarians with information about what the “top” journals in each field were. In philosophy, information was available that described which journals a library should have if they only had space for a small number of journals. Most of those reference publications were weak on methodology and lacked transparency in their process.…

Awaiting the governor’s signature, Vermont is poised to become the fourth state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. While Oregon and Washington legalized physician-aid-in-dying through public referendum and Montana through a court decision, Vermont’s is occurring through the legislative process.

The first U.S. aid-in-dying law was the Oregon 1994 Death with Dignity Act. The law faced a referendum to appeal it in 1997 and a Bush administration court challenge was ruled on in 2006.

The Vermont law mirrors those of Oregon and Washington.…

On May 9, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography independently reported measurements of mean concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels of nearly 400 parts per million (it was actually 399.89 ppm).  For the last 800,000 years, the Earth has not broken 300ppm. This is significant because it shows that despite weak international efforts, atmospheric carbon levels are increasing on an exponential curve.

The number 400ppm is arbitrary but was chosen as a milestone to draw attention to the continuing scientific concern over the increase of atmospheric carbon.…

If you’re a teen in North Carolina, a new bill before the legislature may make it more difficult for you to get sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, mental health counseling, pregnancy care or even substance abuse treatment. To receive any of those, a teen would need written, notarized parental consent. A parent could not simply give permission on the phone, via a note, or even by signing a consent form. No, the parent has to use a notary to give permission.…