Time to Chill Out Over Drugs in the Water

Maia Szalavitz
A recent investigative report by the Associated Press has found traces of various medications – ranging from painkillers to sex hormones to antibiotics – in the drinking water of various locations around the country. The report has now sparked Senate hearings over what is to be done.
But what this intensive investigative report lacks [...]

CBS Sweeps Week Shocker: Glass Can Break!

Chicago’s CBS affiliate has discovered the laws of physics, and the shocking news is that…um… glass can break. Like, if you drop a dish made of glass it can… break (mechanical breakage), or if you put a very hot glass dish in cold water it can… break (thermal downshock).
In a segment blowing gale-force spin, [...]

Keep Your Eyes on the Slope, and Stop Worrying About “Toxic” Ski Wax

Trevor Butterworth
So how risky is snowboarding compared to the wax on your snowboard? This odd consideration comes by way of Boulder, Colorado’s Daily Camera, which asks “What’s in your ski wax?” and then answers “Slippery coating may be toxic.”
The article claims that ski wax poses a threat to health because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [...]

How We Calculate Risk: Fear of Flying After 9/11 Led to Increase in Auto Deaths

Trevor Butterworth
When it comes to calculating risk, we are hardwired to respond to the risks of a pre-modern world. As STATS Senior Fellow Maia Szalavitz points out in the January/February issue of Psychology Today:
The human brain is exquisitely adapted to respond to risk—uncertainty about the outcome of actions. Faced with a precipice or a predator, [...]

MSNBC’s Offensively Stupid Headline (and story) on Car Safety

Trevor Butterworth

Ok. Think. How might cars be dangerous? For starters, you can crash them and kill or maim yourself and others through careless driving or being drunk at the wheel. In fact, let’s stop there, as automotive crashes have accounted for roughly 38,000 deaths each year for the past 10 years. And that’s just the [...]

The Risks of Television

Trevor Butterworth and Jenna Krall
Sometimes it’s the actual set and not what you’re watching that’s dangerous to your health… more
Originally published July 17, 2007

FDA Drug Standards: What’s Safe Enough?

Trevor Butterworth
From Wired: Why would the FDA allow a pharmaceutical company to continue to sell an apparently dangerous drug? The answer is not simple, and at a time when mistrust of the government’s relationship with the healthcare industry seems to be increasing, the subtleties can get lost in daily news reports… more
Originally published August 2, [...]

Are Vogue Editors Sniffing Too Much Nail Polish?

Trevor Butterworth, Huffington Post
Um, boys don’t produce semen until they reach puberty - and even the most precocious male is not going to reach puberty before leaving the womb… more
Originally published July 26, 2007

The Risks of Lawn Mowing

Trevor Butterworth and Jenna Krall
What happens when you take a set of sharp blades and spin them at 160 mph across a lawn?
Originally published July 17, 2007

A Crusading Doctor Stumbles On His Own Words

Trevor Butterworth, Huffington Post
As another major scientific journal criticizes the methodology behind a study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that prompted a nationwide panic over a popular diabetes drug, it turns out that the doctor who authored the study, Steven Nissen MD, delivered a blistering attack on those very methods seven years [...]