Category: BLOG

(Public Discourse) – So, all in all, a propitious time to reflect on Sen. Ben Sasse’s announcement, in December of last year, that he has been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. As he says, that diagnosis is without doubt a death sentence, a death that will be upon him rather quickly. He has now prematurely entered his own winter, and however much time he has left will in some ways be an ongoing February of suffering. 

Yet Sasse’s announcement reveals to us both goods and virtues that show in his dying a glimmer of light, a stirring of hope, and the possibility of spring even in one’s final winter. All of us labor under the same death sentence that Sasse does, and so it is worth our time to reflect upon the lessons he offers us. (Read More)

(CT) – Our culture idolizes independence and self-sufficiency to the point that people fear dependence on others more than almost anything else. The feeling of “being a burden” and a pervasive sense of loneliness are major reasons people seek euthanasia. The church of Jesus Christ has to offer people a better way of thinking about life and dependence if we want to push against the horrors of euthanasia. (Read More)

(New York Times) – Aging means “becoming a target” of the industry, one expert said. After decades of debate, politicians of all stripes are proposing bans.

Industry and academic research have shown that ads influence prescription rates. Patients are more apt to make appointments and request drugs, either by brand name or by category, and doctors often comply. Multiple follow-up visits may ensue.

But does that benefit consumers? Most developed countries take a hard pass. Only New Zealand and, despite the decade-long opposition of the American Medical Association, the United States allow direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising.

Public health advocates argue that such ads encourage the use and overuse of expensive new medications, even when existing, cheaper drugs work as effectively. (Read More)

(NPR) – “It has to do with the fact that our [insurance] contracts don’t pay as well as we think they should,” Carlan said. “The cost of everything is going up.”

Valley Medical Group is far from alone in this predicament. Thousands of primary care practices, a key gateway to the medical system, are fighting to remain financially viable — and independent.

In response, many of them are banding together to form Independent Physician Associations, or IPAs. The goal is to increase their market power, change the way they get paid, and remain in control of how they treat patients. (Read More)

(The Guardian) – Judge says people should not lose chance of parenthood ‘by the ticking of a clock’ after 10-year deadline missed

Lawyers for 15 groups affected by the errors – some of them former cancer patients – asked the court in London to declare it would be lawful for the embryos or cells to remain in storage, despite the consent expiring in June last year. In some cases this was because fertility clinics failed to notify those affected.

In an unusual situation, the move was unopposed, with no objections from the clinics, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority or the health secretary. (Read More)

(New York Times) – Health workers in developing countries know that isolating tuberculosis patients is an outdated and potentially harmful practice, but lack the resources to move away from it.

The sanitarium model of TB treatment — confining people in isolation for a lengthy period — was declared obsolete in the United States and other high-income countries some 60 years ago. It lingered in Eastern Europe until 15 years ago, but it is still used in some low-income countries in Africa and Asia, where health systems lack the resources to update policy, retrain staff or deploy community health workers to help patients at home.

For the past 15 years, the World Health Organization has said that TB patients should not be isolated or confined, or hospitalized at all, unless they are acutely ill. Research shows that their TB treatment would be more successful if done at home, because patients would have better mental health and would be less exposed to other infections. (Read More)

(AP) – Puerto Rico’s governor on Thursday signed a bill that amends a law to recognize a fetus as a human being, a move doctors and legal experts warn will have deep ramifications for the U.S. Caribbean territory.

The amendment was approved without public hearings and amid concerns from opponents who warned it would unleash confusion and affect how doctors and pregnant or potentially pregnant women are treated. (Read More)

(Ars Technica) – The World Health Organization on Friday released a formal statement blasting a US-funded vaccine trial as “unethical,” because it would withhold an established, safe, and potentially lifesaving vaccine against hepatitis B from some newborns in Guinea-Bissau, Africa.

“In its current form, and based on publicly available information, the trial is inconsistent with established ethical and scientific principles,” the WHO concluded, after providing a bullet-point list of reasons the trial was harmful and low quality. (Read More)

(Wired) – EVA AI created a pop-up romantic date night at a Manhattan wine bar to help in making AI-human relationships a “new normal.”

If you’re the type of person who cares about Valentine’s Day, not having someone to spend it with can be a bummer.

While dating apps have been yielding diminishing returns for singles for years now, more people are finding companionship with AI partners.

But where do you take your AI lover for a night on the town?

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, EVA AI decided to try out an experiment. The app, where users can text or live video call (a new feature) with AI dates, set up a pop-up café at Same Same Wine Bar in Manhattan. (Read More)

(Wired) – The use of cryptocurrency in sales of human beings for prostitution and scam compounds nearly doubled in 2025, according to a conservative estimate. Many of the deals are happening in plain sight.

Cryptocurrency’s frictionless, transnational, low-regulation transactions have long promised the ability to pay anyone in the world for anything. More than ever before, that anything includes human beings: victims of human trafficking forced into scam compounds and the sex trade on an industrial scale, bought and sold in crypto deals carried out with impunity, often in full public view. (Read More)

(Independent) – France plans to send a letter to all 29-year-olds in the country encouraging them to have babies before it is “too late”.

Hundreds of thousands of young people will receive the letter, which aims to provide “targeted, balanced and scientifically based information on sexual and reproductive health” to “avoid the ‘if only I had known’ mentality”, the health ministry said.

But the measure, which is part of a 16-point plan to tackle France’s declining birth rate, has been criticised by those who say it will not have the desired effect. (Read More)