So much for a man’s home being his castle and all that. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is now going after the last refuge of the city’s beleaguered smokers—their apartments.
Mayor Bloomberg is strongly advocating for a new law that would require buildings to disclose smoking policies and procedures to potential tenants and renters. The Wall Street Journal was the first to break the bad news. Read More
Say what you will about investment banking as a benefit to and/or plague on the finance sector, economy, New York City, and the universe in general. Now there’s science to back the idea that, yes, investment banking is actually, medically ‘bad’ for one’s health. How bad? Try “insomnia, alcoholism, heart palpitations, eating disorders and an explosive temper” or at the very least “a stress-related physical or emotional ailment within several years on the job.” Science! Read More
It is inevitable that 2012 will be rife with omens of doom. Here’s a beaut: Totally Drug-Resistant TB (TDR-TB) has spread to India. TDR-TB (or something very like it) was first reported in Iran in 2009. Now it’s made its way to Mumbai to hang out with charming acquaintances like Multi-Drug-Resistant TB (MDR-TB) and Extremely Drug-Resistant TB (XDR-TB). It’s a pretty doomy disease. Read More
Last May, The Observer chronicled a problem beginning to plague New York City: a shortage of Adderall, the amphetamine ostensibly used in conjunction with a diagnosis of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) or just plain old ADD, but is often employed as a totally legal way to do speed during the workday. As one can imagine, a shortage of the drug might affect New York City particularly hard, which—with the shortage now in full, national swing—it has. Read More
It comes along at a certain time each year — that turning point when the wind picks up and the bone-cold air ignites within New Yorkers a craving for something warm to eat. And when this desire sets in, there’s no better way to succumb than to whip up a big, scalding-hot, salt-blasted bowl of Read More
An occasional series exploring New York’s health and fitness culture.
I went to one of those colleges out East where the girls were overachievers and competed in everything from semiotics to style. But what we cared about most was staying skinny. After long study sessions at the library, we ran to the treadmills at midnight Read More
Just as we bid farewell to H1N1, a new so-called “superbug” is rearing its ugly head. British researchers said Wednesday that they’ve discovered a new strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and that this microscopic monster may have been spread in part by medical tourism. The strain has been dubbed NDM-1 and Cardiff Read More
It was a time of war and disease, of dire and doom-laden reports of death from abroad. At home, mortuaries overflowed and funeral homes closed their doors to new business. Fear was a pall upon the land. But that was 1918. The Great Pandemic of 2009/2010, which caused a mini-boom in business for vaccine Read More
On November 19 Columbia University and the Manhattan Borough President’s Office held a conference on The Politics of Food. The half-day conference was devoted to one of New York City’s biggest challenges: ensuring that the public has ready access to high-quality food. Speakers included Columbia President Lee Bollinger, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, New York Read More
