Experiments That Changed Nutritional Thinking

Experiments in Thinking

Let me begin with a hypothetical. Let us take a relatively established philosopher who has been at work within their particular sub-discipline for a number of years. They have produced some good work and when at conferences a few people actually recognize the name on their nametag. Things are good and the future looks even better. Brimming with confidence, our philosopher brings his latest work...

New thinking on animal experiments

National regulations on animal experiments vary widely between countries but growing numbers of researchers in Britain believe that the procedures are in need of an overhaul. And a new report by a group of members of Britain’s upper house of parliament, the House of Lords, advises a shakeup that both speeds up consideration of researchers’ requests but opens up public scrutiny of such work. The...

“Not Everything That Is Faced Can Be Changed, but Nothing Can Be Changed Until It Is Faced”: A Response to Recent Commentaries

The Virus That Changed My World

When I first read this little poem in The Lancet in January 2003 (Heikkinen and Jarvinen 2003), it elicited little more than a bemused chortle. There are few who would deny the paradox that for all the medical advances providing cures for multitudinous diseases afflicting the human condition, there remains a large hole in the understanding of and treatment for the common cold. We know that it i...

The quarter that changed the world

BACKGROUND The California Department of Public Health (CDPH), California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) is one of the longest-running comprehensive tobacco control programmes in the USA, resulting from a 1988 ballot initiative that added a 25-cent tax on each pack of cigarettes and a proportional tax increase on other tobacco products. This programme used a social norm change approach to reduce...