Last Gasp – Emergency Beijing Smog Relief
Since the previous emergency plan didn’t work, the Chinese government implemented an even more drastic one to reduce pollution in time for the Olympics. Make sure you check out the photos.
From Australia, Two Views on the Pollution, Olympics
One expert says athlete deaths are possible, if not likely, while head doctor for the team (sees straws, grasping) calls the smog problems a blessing in disguise for prompting thorough asthma screenings of athletes.
Study Shows No Link Between Antibiotics, Asthma
Kids who take antibiotics in their first year of life often end up with asthma symptoms, but this New Zealand research points to respiratory infections as the culprit, not the meds themselves. Since some studies support an asthma-antibiotics link (like the one in this post), the waters are officially muddied.
Dry Drowning: Read this if You Have Kids
I’d never heard of drowning on dry land until Rick’s excellent post, but I’m sure glad I know about it now. Don’t miss the excellent links and list of warning symptoms.
Well Column on Doctor-Patient Relationships
Is it the arrogant doctors? The problematic patients? Maybe it’s our broken-in-so-many-ways healthcare system. Remember how that previous bit of research uncovered enormous inefficiencies that resulted in Americans paying more for less effective care?
Must Be Harry Potter Week: The Tales of Beetle the Bard Coming this December
First the new trailer, and now this. Reproductions of that handwritten, hand-illustrated book that J.K. Rowling auctioned off for charity last year for $4 million will go on sale Dec. 4. All these proceeds will go to charity, too, because Rowling is pretty damn amazing. It’s one thing for wealthy people to donate money. It’s another thing entirely to put in the time and work to create an entire book that will get other people to donate, too. AG, a Hogwarts fiend, is totally getting a copy for Christmas.
Pre-order the standard version from Amazon here or the or the special Collector’s Edition here. Both come with free shipping.
I Write About the Huge New Conservation Plan in the Canadian Boreal Forest
From my Celsias article,
Environmentalists, scientists, and wildlife experts all over the world laud a monster new land conservation deal in North America that bodes well for everything from biodiversity to global air quality to climate change.
In Canada, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty recently pledged to protect 225,000 square kilometers (55 million acres) of the Far North Boreal Forest and has banned all mining and logging operations there. Can’t wrap your mind around that amount of land? This portion, roughly half the entire boreal region, is about twice the size of England.
Read the whole thing through the link above, and Digg it if you like.
