Daily Reads: No Comment

Today’s Daily Read isn’t the most scintillating article I’ve ever read, but the information it contains is revealing and important, so I believe it is worth the quick read. Cathleen O’Grady of Arstechnica reports on two studies that looked at the influence of online comments on the effectiveness of public service announcements (PSAs). The study created… Continue reading

Daily Reads: Healthy Dirtiness

This article I ran across on Vox makes me very happy because it reflects something I’ve been teaching students in my classes for years: that being too clean can make you less healthy. This is especially true for children. The article discusses what is known as the hygiene hypothesis, which proposes that exposure to allergens, viruses, bacteria,… Continue reading

Daily Reads: Everybody Poops

Ok, so maybe an article about poop isn’t the most important or thought-provoking thing in the world, but I thought it was pretty interesting. I definitely learned some things about the process of elimination, so to speak! Joseph Stromberg of Vox talks about 9 different things you may not know about poop. I knew most of these things… Continue reading

Daily Reads: The Real Cause of Obesity

I do a lot of reading about health and nutrition because I find it to be interesting both anthropologically and personally. I have long come to embrace the conclusion that diet-related health issues such as obesity are linked to social and cultural causes and not (just) to personal decision-making. Thus, today’s Daily Read is about… Continue reading

Daily Reads: The Gluten-Free Craze

In my post on the bandwagon fallacy, I used the popularity of certain food fads as my example. One of those fads is the current gluten-free craze. This article from NPR by James S. Fell discusses how this fad has created difficulties for people who have actually been diagnosed with celiac disease. These folks, unlike those… Continue reading