Fear the four-in-hand.

The wave of swine flu cases that gripped Missouri and the nation appears to have peaked in late October, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
But the wave of panic it induced remains strong. The latest…

Suppose you were asked for a list of the game-changers in modern medicine — treatments that saved the most lives and had the greatest health impact.
You might name organ transplants or drugs to fight cancer and AIDS. Maybe if you…

Roy Scheider thinks we need a bigger boat.

In the 1975 blockbuster movie “Jaws,” Mayor Larry Vaughn tries to prevent Police Chief Martin Brody from disclosing shark attacks off fictional Amity Island.
“It’s all psychological,” Mayor Vaughn says. “You yell ‘Barracuda!’ and…

“In the long run, we’re all dead.”
— John Maynard Keynes

The World Health Organization warned Wednesday that a swine flu pandemic is likely imminent. “It’s really all of humanity that’s under threat,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, the organization’s director general.
Frightening though…

One year ago, Illinois’ clean indoor air law took effect. As a kind of anniversary present, a new study published this week points to why it was a good idea: Clean air laws substantially reduce the risk of certain kinds…