Author Archives: Chris

Risk Management: The underestimated cost of Lyme disease

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Chris

The New York Times Magazine has an article on Ina Drew, who was supposed to oversee trading operations at JP Morgan and was reportedly a great risk manager. But her unit lost $5 billion. To me, the underplayed role in … Continue reading →

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Selling exercise

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Chris

How to convince people to exercise? People need it, but most people don’t do it. A study says that we are marketing it all wrong. Forget exercise to lose weight, be healthier, or live longer. Try telling people exercise will … Continue reading →

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Lack of exercise is not the cause of the problem (but it is part of the solution)

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Chris

Yet more evidence that a lack of exercise and energy expenditure is not the cause of the epidemic of obesity. This is part of the evidence that simply exercising more is not the answer to losing weight or reducing the … Continue reading →

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Running on the beach

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Chris

A nice Well Blog piece about running in sand. Definitely fun and definitely a work out in the soft stuff. Having grown up in Santa Cruz, I have thought and experimented a lot with figuring out the most efficient stride.

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A calorie IS just a calorie

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Chris

A nice interview in the NYTimes today with a Rockefeller University researcher who has been studying obesity for decades. The key point he makes, which people must understand as a baseline for a discussion of diets, is that ultimately a … Continue reading →

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Simpleminded science questions worthiness of family dinners

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Chris

In the Sunday Review section of the NY Times, there is an opinion piece about a study that questions whether family dinners are overrated. All previous studies show that kids in families that eat dinner together regularly are more socially … Continue reading →

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MIT camera records subtle changes in motion, color

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Chris

This is an interesting story (via BoingBoing) of a new video technique from MIT that records very fast, subtle changes in motion or color from frame to frame, allowing you to see someone’s pulse or see the flush of blood … Continue reading →

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Testing female athletes for “excess” testosterone

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Chris

I see that the official international rules regarding who can and can’t compete continue to get more ridiculous. First, there was the ruling that Oscar Pistorius could run on prosthetic legs because no one could prove that he had any … Continue reading →

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Telomeres in sperm lengthen with age

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Chris

This BBC report is fascinating. As you get older, the protective caps at the end of the chromosomes, called telomeres, generally shorten. When they get short enough, the chromosomes stop dividing and cells stop replacing themselves. Except in sperm. They … Continue reading →

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“Evils” of sugar roundup

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Chris

In the Guardian there is a nice summary of the ideas about how sugar, not fat, causes obesity. I am in agreement. As always, I would like to point out something that many (such as Lustig) gloss over or outright … Continue reading →

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