1) The review was only of studies done in industrialized nations, hence the clean-water aspect is obviated

OK that first sentence is just wrong.

Sibling comparisons largely wash out the IQ effect, as well as many other supposed long-term benefits of breastfeeding.
http://www.bmj.com/content/333/75…

This is completely false. There have been multiple studies on this and maternal consumption of mercury-heavy fish species at normal levels (like a few servings a week) is sufficient to have adverse effects on infant cognition.

Really! That's fascinating and if so I abjectly apologize for my rant. I'm from NY and I have met at least three NYers who used 'yee-roh' and (when I continued to use 'jy-roh' as I always do in English) proceeded to lecture me on how this was actually the etymologically 'correct' pronunciation. Now it's a pet peeve…

Huh. I'm fluent in Greek and when I speak English I say jeye-roh, just like I say jim-nasium for gymnasium (not yeem-naseeyo) and sigh-cology for psychology (not pseech-ologheeyah) and noo-monya for pneumonia (not pnevmoneeyah). Those are all Greek-derived words that have come into English and are now pronounced…

Totally, I was wondering if it was just me that preferred the glowing 'after' picture to the weird orange 'before'.

This is very weird to me. I'm sorry that you feel that you were duped into having a big expensive wedding to someone you didn't love but the idea that most parents are 'programmed' into wanting children just doesn't compute with me at all. We had a courthouse marriage and a dinner with friends because neither of us…

Why would you 'not buy it' when the women reporting the onset of 'invisibility' have experienced interactions with strangers both as young women, and then as middle-aged women, and they report a change?

As a physician in my mid-30s (who occasionally gets asked if I am a 'student' or if I 'go to school around here') I think this is just not something to worry about. If you are courteous, caring, and good at your work your patients will be very happy. Appearance is (mostly) irrelevant.

Heh, here's my UHS story: I was diagnosed with HPV by a UHS provider (by inspection during an annual exam, no blood test or anything) when I was still a virgin. She was like, "This looks weird, you have HPV! Here's some info!" She sent me home with a sheaf of horrifying leaflets and I spent weeks in a haze of shock…

Yup. Nope. Totally agree. I think the 'tearing-foreskin' misconception of disease transmission (besides being wrong) gives a false picture of the degree of damage that is done to the functional penis in order to achieve improved STD protection.

It's not that the foreskin itself tears, it's that the glans penis is normally a mucous membrane and therefore susceptible to viral penetration in the way that external, keratinized skin is not. Same way the mouth, nose, eyes, and vagina are susceptible to viral penetration that can't occur through the skin elsewhere…

When I was Internet dating I usually had a phone conversation before meeting in person. I definitely found a higher-pitched voice a little disappointing but it wasn't a dealbreaker. A nice medium-deep voice with a sexy accent would definitely up the ante.

The weird thing is that the hormones actually also make the child-care part bizarrely really fun, which is why it is so hard to explain what is fun about kids to the child-free. From an objective description I understand it's hard to see the appeal, but the hormones work their hormonal magic and make it super fun…

Agoraphobia is fear of *public* spaces, not open spaces. It can coexist with claustrophobia. Agora is Greek for 'marketplace.'

You know, I'm totally with you on the supreme paranoia we have around here, but for the record I would like to point out that the government actually *is* reading our emails (and tapping Angela Merkel's cell phone, etc.). Were you following the Edward Snowden/NSA thing at all?

Heating liquids in the microwave is much more energy-efficient than using the stove, and the result is the same but faster.

Dollars to doughnuts there's some kind of metabolic issue. I don't think it's possible to overfeed a baby with a normal metabolism to that degree. At some point they'll just stop eating. I bet the kid has Prader-Willi or something and nobody's figured it out yet.

How is it 'product contamination' when there's actual chicken in your chicken soup?