Handling Pro Athletes Who Use Steroids
Oct 18 (The Washington Times) All adults try to enhance their performance in a multitude of ways. We use cars and computers to make our work more efficient. We use caffeine, alcohol and Viagra to improve our performance. We send our children to schools and Suzuki lessons to improve their cognitive and performance skills. We inject them with vaccines to enhance their immune systems.

Drug Testing Could Stop 'Academic Doping'
Oct 02 (Los Angeles Times) Students taking important exams could one day find themselves in the same position as professional athletes -- submitting to a drug test before the big event. The practice of students taking cognitive-enhancing drugs, such as methylphenidate, has become so common that those who don't "dope" are at an unfair advantage, argues a psychologist writing in the new issue of Journal of Medical Ethics.

Looking at the Future of Artificial Intelligence
Sep 28 (New York Times) AS the Woodstock Film Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this week, it plans, as usual, to recall the music festival of 1969 that gave it its name. AS the Woodstock Film Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this week, it plans, as usual, to recall the music festival of 1969 that gave it its name.

Medical Papers by Ghostwriters Pushed Therapy
Aug 05 (New York Times) Newly unveiled court documents show that ghostwriters paid by a pharmaceutical company played a major role in producing 26 scientific papers backing the use of hormone replacement therapy in women, suggesting that the level of hidden industry influence on medical literature is broader than previously known.

Is Your Child the ‘Right’ Height?
Jul 28 (New York Times) “Who was the most miserable kid in your seventh grade class?” asks Abigail Zuger, M.D., in her Books column in this week’s Science Times. “Was it the tiny boy who could still fit into his fourth-grade jeans? Was it the six-foot girl, a hunched-over stork in flat shoes and horizontal stripes?” Dr. Zuger takes a look at “Normal at Any Cost: Tall Girls, Small Boys, and the Medical Industry’s Quest to Manipulate Height,” by journalists Susan Cohen and Christine Cosgrov

More News...