CASES: When Bad Advice Is the Best Advice

Shutterstock The last four decades have witnessed an explosion of thyroid cancer diagnoses in the U.S. People are three times more likely to receive cancer diagnoses now than they were in 1975. Why? Is it chemicals in the water supply? A side effect of all those childhood vaccines? Or is it because a TV ad…

Shutterstock I have just given you $78. (I’m a generous guy.) Now I’m giving you a choice: you can enter a lottery where you have a 75% chance of losing that $78 and a 25% of keeping it, or you can hold on to $20 and avoid the lottery all together. Quick—tell me what you…

Shutterstock Legalizing medical marijuana is controversial. Physicians have not always prescribed controlled substances wisely, as a look at our narcotic epidemic confirms. But marijuana is much safer than narcotics and, according to a recent study, might even save us money, by reducing people’s need for other, often more expensive medications. Most notably, marijuana can be…

Here’s a picture from National Geographic showing a stunning decline in the genetic diversity of crops: This is dangerous – diversity is key to avoiding crop failures from disease and pestilence.