We simply don’t know. There are enough radionuclides in the outflow to the sea and in the water in the plant that it looks like a leak is possible, but […]
Year: 2011
Richard Smith: Might copies of PLoS ONE change journals forever?
I continue to be amazed that despite the appearance of the internet, which some have compared with the invention of fire, our methods for disseminating scientific studies are essentially the […]
Martin McShane: A confusion of choice.
I chaired the specialised commissioning group last week which was fascinating (and intense work). Ranged around the table were people skilled and experienced in public health, planning, procurement, finance, and […]
Ryuki Kassai: Update from Fukushima – the second seven days of the disaster
First of all, I want to express my sincere gratitude to those who provided us with useful information, who kindly donated to us, who warmly encouraged us, who thoughtfully conveyed […]
Tiago Villanueva: Does medicine cater for a truly “global” career?
I was inspired during medical school by Mark Wilson’s “Medics’s guide to work and electives around the world,” which conveys the core idea that medicine can be a “passport to […]
Cheryl Rofer: Radiation exposure standards – some hard judgments
Radioactive decay is inherently probabilistic. It’s not possible to point at a particular unstable atom and predict when it will decay. Further, some types of unstable atoms have more than […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review – 28 March 2011
JAMA 23-30 Mar 2011 Vol 305 1165 In 1941, there was a rumour that the Germans were buying up large quantities of bovine adrenal glands from Argentina so as to […]
David Kerr: Deus ex machina
Forget complementary therapies, the big question is can engineering succeed where traditional medicine has failed? Anyone following the online technology bible “TechCrunch” might be persuaded by this idea. Here in […]
Research highlights – 25 March 2011
“Research highlights” is a weekly round-up of research papers appearing in the print BMJ. We start off with this week’s research questions, before providing more detail on some individual research […]
Guna Reddy-Kolanu: Cultural problems with the “bare below the elbows” policy
The NHS should, as its name suggests, be a service which caters to the health of the nation. Britain, as a nation, has a rich and deeply international history. With the […]