It is well accepted among health economics wonks that the lion’s share of pharmaceutical company profits come when these companies hold exclusive rights to their products. Once their blockbuster pills go “generic,” competitors enter the marketplace and profits plummet. Consider captopril, a groundbreaking heart failure medication introduced in the early 80s by Bristol-Myers Squibb under…
Taste versus health: That’s a trade-off we are often faced with when deciding what to eat. Some foods are bad for our health but happen to taste quite good. All of us have limited willpower, and when we are exhausted those unhealthy foods become harder to resist. But did you know that when willpower is depleted,…
There are promising ways to manage chronic pain so people, when they do feel pain, aren’t so bothered by it. In fact, a creative study led by a neuroscientist, Susanne Becker, uses insights from Ivan Pavlov to show the possibility of uncoupling the sensation of pain from the experience of pain. More here
One of the best podcasts out there is NPR’s The Hidden Brain. Here is a recent episode discussing the challenges of being a, yawn, astronaut on a long voyage. It covers some fun research I did with David Comerford. Here is the beginning of the print version. But you might want to check out the audio….
I was recently quoted in an article about opioid addiction in what looks like a far-right website. Not surprisingly, they took my quote out of context. They quote me, quoting some other people I disagree with, and then use that as evidence for the thing I quote. Here’s an excerpt of the article in case…