Achieving change is about more than ticking boxes

Checking lists, ticking boxes.

Although not original, the story makes an interesting introduction to the topic: Boeing’s prototype B-17 bomber stalled and crashed in 1935 on its first f light because the elevator control was left locked.1,2 The combination of the loss of life and the potential loss to the firm of the US government procurement demanded an innovative approach – and thus the checklist was born. The B-17 program...

Animal Communication: Sniffing Is About More Than Just Smell

A recent study shows that subordinate rats reduce their rate of sniffing while dominants explore their faces thus delaying dominants' subsequent aggression. Sniffing not only facilitates acquisition of olfactory information, but unexpectedly, also serves as a medium for communication.

Abortion is more than a debate about conscientious objection.

Pettinger M, et al. Women’s Health Initiative Investigators. Effects of estrogen plus progestin on gynecologic cancers and associated diagnostic procedures: the Women’s Health Initiative randomized trial. JAMA 2003; 290: 1739–1748. 28 Archer DF. The effect of the duration of progestin use on the occurrence of endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women. Menopause 2001; 8: 245–251. 29 de Vries CS...

Coffee time is about much more than coffee.

The days I don’t make it to morning coffee are the worst days. On these too-busy days the time after surgery haemorrhages into house visits and urgent telephone calls. I’ll be trying to get hold of someone at the hospital—while that someone is trying to get hold of me. I’ll have received badly abnormal blood results but no phone number for the patient. And, of course, I’ll have forgotten the la...

11 Climate Change: Is It More Predictable Than We Think?