The Green Microgym

(Via Brian)

Using Google to Track the Flu

It’s flu season, so get ready! The fine people at Google.org, (not com) are concerned for your health and decided to create Google Flu Trends. This is a great idea that uses Google Trends to search Google’s database of queries specific to flu-related terms. With so many people resorting to online medical help, Google Flu Trends claims to be very accurate, and in some cases, they can detect new trends of the flu before sources like the CDC. According to Miguel Helft’s New York Times article, this idea is not new and is actually the same concept used by the CDC and other disease-related organizations; however, Google Flu Trends appears to be the first public project that uses the powerful database of a search engine to track a disease. Oh how we love Cyberspace!

(Via Brian)

Visualizing [medical] Data

For your health

(Via Andy)

Giving vegetarians a chance

 

For those of you who mock vegetarians or vegans as trend-seekers, granolas or just plain silly, this is for you. Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food gives a refreshing perspective on the modern food industry. The book’s motto, “Eat food. Not much. Mostly plants.” is revolutionary in its simplicity and common-sense perspective. Another book that will influence what food you eat is The China Study by Dr. T Colin Campbell. I recommend both of these books because they could convince pretty much anyone to give animal food products a break.

(Via Elizabeth)