‘Vampire Face-Lifts’: Smooth at First Bite (NYT)
Plumping out nasiolabial folds with your own blood platelets. Not tested. Not FDA approved. “This is another gimmick that people are using to make themselves stand out on the Internet in a real dog-eat-dog part of medicine.”
The Corporate Pursuit of Happiness (Fast Company)
Stanford business school teaches students the virtues of marketing by promising happiness. Happiness is just “another commodity deployed to sell something.” See The duty to be happy.
A Ban on Brain-Boosting Drugs Is Not the Answer (Chronicle)
A large number of undergrads use neuroenhancers. Is this unfair competition? The way to stop their use is to change the culture of competition in college and engage students in learning for learning’s sake.
Can a group of scientists in California end the war on climate change? (Guardian)
The Berkeley Earth project says it is about to reveal the definitive truth about global warming. Data will be public and offer a “more precise number” on global warming.
When Optimism Is Unrealistic (NYT)
Questioning the ethics of informed consent in early-phase drugs trials. They test toxicity, offer no benefits. Being optimistic may be good for one’s health, but “unrealistic optimism is notoriously difficult to recognize because most individuals are completely unaware that it even exists.”
Dilemma in Europe (Frontline)
In France the issue is retirement age. In the US the current issue is collective bargaining rights. The dilemma is the same. The Left’s defense of social policies that benefit the middle- and working class is hampered by an inability to suggest an alternative that could succeed in today’s economic climate. “The Left has no alternative but to accept a more or less prolonged transitional phase of national or pan-national (as in the case of Europe) delinking from the current global order before the world can witness a new form of internationalism that is driven not by finance capital but by socialist praxis.”
Image: CBS News
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