A very interesting retrospective of a very scary and sad time. What Can We See in All the Recent Art About AIDS? nytimes.com/2026/10/19/t-mag… via @NYTimes

Remembering Gloria Steinem and grateful for her leadership and inspiration. Gloria Steinem, Personification of the Women’s Movement, Dies at 92 nytimes.com/2026/09/03/us/po…

Adding a question about pets to medical intake assessments is a wonderful idea! "Pet-related constraints remain largely invisible in routine clinical workflows, where the relevant information is neither systematically elicited nor acted on. As a result, care plans are often developed without accounting for a factor that directly shapes whether they can be followed, a critical gap between clinical intent and real-world implementation. Such structural barriers persist not because solutions are unavailable, but because they are not embedded in routine care." Human–Animal Bonds as Social Determinants of Health Care Access | New England Journal of Medicine nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NE…

Not surprising. medpagetoday.com/primarycare…

"The irony is striking. America’s leading universities devote enormous effort to preparing graduates for participation in a dynamic market economy, yet daily campus life is one of the least market-oriented environments in the world.... examining the economic environment students inhabit every day shows how influential economics lessons many students receive may come from the institutional design of the university. #economy#marketeconomy#socialist#ethics How Colleges Produce Socialists by @dr_josephson wsj.com/opinion/how-colleges… via @WSJopinion

The Driehous Museum, Chicago, always has interesting exhibits in addition to the beatuful mansion and room settings. "A caricature can be defined most simply as an exaggerated portrait. It is one of the elemental ways in which public figures and customs have been recognized and satirized throughout European and American art. As reproduction technology and public taste evolved, so did this art form. This show concentrates on a period of roughly 50 years between 1770 and 1820 when hand-colored, single-panel etchings were the mode of the moment in London and Dublin." The lost art of public shaming chicagoreader.com/visual-art… via @Chicago_Reader

Empathic gestures, words, and actions can be reasonably taught to students and healthcare providers. As AI takes over more and more of healthcare related chores, providers must continuously work to maintian their human relationship with their patients. "The danger is not just that artificial intelligence can simulate empathy convincingly. It is that we humans may begin to lose our ability to engage in authentic ways." #AI #empathy #healthcare #nursing #physician #providerpatientrelationship #caring #publichealth thehastingscenter.org/artifi…

I can understand how health providers have concern about patients having access to their medical lab results and interpretations via AI without the personal relationship context of provider and patient. #healthcare #AI #providerpatientrelationship #bioethics "The majority of American adults today view their test results online before talking to a doctor, research shows….. doctors now have a new, more powerful version of “Dr. Google” to contend with." "As if dealing with “Dr. Google” wasn’t enough, physicians now have to unravel erroneous medical recommendations that patients are getting from AI" wsj.com/tech/ai/doctors-dont… via @WSJ

I love a good cover band! #music #livemusic #summerfest #coverbands "Cover and tribute bands are street fest staples. The musicians aren’t performing their own original pieces but music that a general crowd will bop along to because it’s familiar. .......“It takes [people] back in time to times in their life when things are a little less stressful, maybe a little happier,” The life of cover bands on the Chicago festival circuit. wbez.org/curious-city/2026/0…

A lot of people in public health believe that MAHA is “nothing more than a subversive anti-vaccine, anti-science syndicate," but the movement is an opportunity that the public-health sector “cannot afford to squander," @Craig_A_Spencer argues: theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0…

"The US health care system significantly contributes to climate change while increasingly facing its adverse consequences." #climatechange #healthcare #healthpolicy #bioehtics Aligning Health Policy With Climate Action: Evidence-Based Interventions To Decarbonize Care, Improve Climate Resilience | Health Affairs healthaffairs.org/doi/10.137…

Sabotaging America’s Future: The Catastrophic Cost of Federal Research Cuts | Science-Based Medicine sciencebasedmedicine.org/sab… via @sciencebasedmed

It could be worse? " “I’m still going broke on berries and fruit,” Fox said.' It’s a meme-able refrain among parents of young kids: Why didn’t anyone warn us about the berry budget? The insatiable, bottomless appetite that demands multiple grocery store trips a week? And the small humans who might refuse to consume anything but sweet, tiny fruits?" Parents are ‘going broke on berries’ wapo.st/4v8Xudh

AACN Joins with National Healthcare and Higher Education Groups in Legal Action to Recognize Nursing as a Professional Degree | Newswise newswise.com/articles/aacn-j…

'I think, therefore I am' (Rene Descartes) - the act of thinking or doubting proves you exist. #Humanities #Discourse #empathy #AI #Cogito "Humans may be on the way out. But at least the humanities are back. Or so some of the tech gods tell us. What A.I. can’t do — yet — is the stuff that makes us human: empathy, emotion, psychology, critical thinking. “What a piece of work is a man,” Hamlet said, describing an intricate and infinite creature." What A.I. Kant Do nytimes.com/2026/05/16/opini…

I love watching the nature shows he narrates - such a wonderful and kind voice. David Attenborough is celebrating his 100th birthday on Friday, a milestone in a remarkable life that has taken him from hunting fossils as a boy to becoming perhaps the world’s most celebrated naturalist. David Attenborough, a Voice of Nature, Turns 100 nytimes.com/2026/05/08/arts/…