What’s the best way to convince armed combatants to stop fighting and return home? Remind them of the joys of Christmas, of being with their families and children, of carols and fireworks during the festive season. Campaigns to make the fighters feel nostalgic and want to demobilize did just that in Colombia. Operation Christmas (2010), Operation […]
The United Nations climate negotiations in Lima, Peru, ran over by two days this week due to the refusal of developing countries to accept the position of developed countries on what their contribution should be to cutting emissions and who is going to pay. But in the end, a deal, albeit one that appears weak, […]
We all have heard that laughter is the best medicine, but studies are increasingly bearing out that conclusion. “Dr. Lee Berk, an associate professor at Loma Linda University in California, has spent nearly three decades studying the ways the aftershocks of a good laugh ripple through your brain and body,” says a 19 November article on […]
Many, many people have heard about Habitat for Humanity. But what they do is worth repeating. In its own words, “Habitat for Humanity International builds, rehabilitates and repairs simple, decent houses with the help of homeowner families, volunteer labor, and donations of money and materials.” It is an international, non-governmental, and non-profit organization. Habitat uses volunteer […]
Placebos are getting a fair amount of press lately. Yes, those “fake” remedies called “inert medications” that seem to be real treatments but aren’t are being talked about quite a bit. Recently, among others, health economist Austin Frakt wrote about them in “The Upshot” (“a New York Times website with analysis and data visualizations about politics, policy […]
