The good news about the healthful effects of a certain delicious, refreshing, invigorating hot beverage just keeps piling up. (Previous instalments here and here.) Researchers with the US National Institute of Health examined the association between coffee drinking and mortality among 400,000 men and women in a Diet and Health Study they conducted in association with the American Association of Retired People. Participants with pre-existing cancer, heart disease, and stroke were excluded. RESULTS During 5,148,760 person-years of follow-up between 1995 and 2008, a total of 33,731 men and 18,784 women died. In age-adjusted models, the risk of death was increased among coffee drinkers. However, coffee drinkers were also...

18 May, 2012

Ben Goldacre, a physician who hosts the Bad Science website and writes the UK Guardian's Bad Science has produced a witty compendium of the year in dodgy scientific research in the UK and elsewhere. Moneyquote: A £6m Home Office drugs education study was published with no results, because it was so flawed it couldn’t produce any, we saw MPs being foolish about cervical screening and moon magic, and then when they didn’t like the scientific evidence they got from Professor David Nutt, they sacked him. If politicians want us to take them seriously on the evidence for global warming, they have...

20 December, 2009

OK, it's not really trompe-l'œil. It's an actual, three-dimensional lamp standard at 6th Avenue and Cambie Street, Vancouver. The Cossette ad agency wrapped the pole in brown vinyl, affixing an out-sized carafe at the top and a giant cup at the bottom. The result: an eye-catching ad for McDonald's coffee giveaway promotion. Don't try this in Halifax, where it's illegal to advertise on poles, except for the anatomically correct poles city fathers (and mothers!) set aside for that purpose. Hattip: Bessy N. ...

22 September, 2009

.. .. .. .. First coffee prevented Alzheimer's. Then beer, wine, and spirits prevented Alzheimer's. Now, according to the Journal of Neuroscience, a big fat doobie prevents Alzheimer's. Can sex be far behind? Moneyquote: Our results indicate that cannabinoid receptors are important in the pathology of AD and that cannabinoids succeed in preventing the neurodegenerative process occurring in the disease. [Emphasis contrarian's] Hat tip: D. Parsons. UPDATE: Devastating development. [Hat tip: W&G]...

14 July, 2009