Links for September 15, 2017: male infertility "crisis," adrenal fatigue, the horror of goop, and water>artificial sweeteners
Do not insert.
The male infertility "crisis" is in the eye of the beholder
Anyone who wants a baby should be able to have one, and I'm glad we have thoughtful, careful reproductive endocrinologists and urologists working on the problem. But I think as we rocket toward 10 billion people on planet Earth, calling it a crisis is probably premature.
FWIW: adrenal fatigue isn't a real thing, no matter what GOOP says
Speaking of GOOP, Olga Khazan takes on its mysterious enduring popularity
What would possess a person to think that inserting jade eggs (those are actual egg-shaped pieces of stone, mind you) into her vagina would make her feel better? I have two theories: first, stories are more powerful than data. Local Wichita public health dynamo Becky Tuttle says that stories are "data with soul," but that's only part of the story. People like the illusion of certainty where there is only doubt. I think that's what quacks have always offered.
See also: Nuts! the film about the Kansas doctor who implanted goat testicles, and No, women should not insert jade eggs into their vaginas
Until we have definitive evidence on artificial sweeteners, we should all drink water
Confession: medical school turned me into an heroic Diet Coke drinker in the late '90s. /at first it was just because I needed a reliable source of caffeine to keep me awake, but later it became more of a habit. It may even have had some religious undertones. Short story author Amy Parker once called it "the national beverage," and it was true for me. Every drink felt like a sip of America herself. But in February, after a bout of severe insomnia, I decided to give up caffeine altogether (it helped). It was only by coincidence that 1) data had started to accumulate that diet drinks were certainly not a panacea, and might even be bad for us, and 2) most other artificially sweetened beverages taste the way I imagine ground Smurf would taste. So I mostly gave them up, too. I've probably had 5-10 caffeine-free diet drinks since, and unless someone can produce evidence that they're not bad for me, I'm done forever. Mostly.