Surprising Science — November 5, 2010

Prevention Before Profit on Cancer

The narrow focus on ‘lifestyle factors’ has implied that when people get cancer, it’s their own fault. Is it time to focus more on environmentally induced cancers?rn

bigthinkeditor

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

“According to the (2009 President’s Cancer) Panel, ‘The true burden of environmentally induced cancers has been grossly underestimated.’ It urged President Barack Obama ‘to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water and air that needlessly increase healthcare costs, cripple our nation’s productivity and devastate American lives.'” If we inquired into patients’ occupational history, medical imaging screenings, or any routine or acute chemical exposures, would it “contribute to a better understanding of how environmental factors impact cancer rates, and thus help better assess a patient’s risk of cancer”?

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Pixelated red human figure on a black grid background with blue symmetrical curves and white geometric shapes adjacent.

Hard Science

The Arecibo Message fifty years later

In November 1974, astronomers used the radio telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory to send a hello to the universe.

Bronze statue of a bearded man embodying stoicism, riding a horse with one arm extended forward, set against a black background.

Thinking

3 clues that Stoicism is a religion in disguise

All religions have three traits: metaphysical commitments, ethical guidance, and daily rituals or practices. So does Stoicism.

An open book with abstract designs: the left page displays a horizontal row of color blocks, while the right page features a hand touching a network of connected circles, highlighting strong connections.

Business

Why our “weak-tie” connections are actually super-strong

Sure, “who you know” matters — but your best contacts will be the ones you don’t know very well.

Starts With A Bang

Could dark matter be the same thing as dark energy?

Two parts of our Universe that seem to be unavoidable are dark matter and dark energy. Could they really be two aspects of the same thing?

Close-up of an analog weight scale needle pointing to zero grams, with a black background.

Hard Science

You’re made of energy: The strange truth about where mass comes from

“A person’s mass is made not of ‘stuff’ in the way we normally think about it, but rather our mass is made of energy.”

Up Next

Surprising Science

Kids With Bipolar ‘Lite’?

There has been a putative epidemic of bipolar among children in the U.S., and a corresponding rise in the pediatric use of antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and other drugs.