Baffled by Numbers

Navigating information towards better health decisions

Talya Miron-Shatz, Ph.D., is a researcher at Princeton University. She specializes in medical decision making of patients and health professionals. See full bio

November 6, 2009

Nidal Malik Hasan - and mammograms?

How come it is so common to screen many, at enormous financial and mental cost, to save the lives of so few? And how come this reasoning is not applied to terror threats? Read More

October 5, 2009

How much should you eat? Woman vs. steak

When a woman with a huge appetite meets a Broadway Diner steak, the steak wins hands down. What does this tell us about portion sizes? Read More

September 22, 2009

The Joy of Spandex

Sure, exercise is good for you. But aren't you more likely to go to the gym if the instructor makes you feel like you're in Hollywood, or if the opposeite sex (or whichever sex you are attracted to) checks you out? Read More

August 31, 2009

How much should you weigh? (Part 2)

When the world sends unhealthy messages, urging you to become a stick figure, it's hard to know how much you should really weigh. Unless you Ask Alice. Read More

August 20, 2009

How much should you weigh? (Part 1)

When a skinny 11 year old does not fit into the smallest size of women's wear, that's when you begin to wonder how much - or how little one should weigh. Read More

August 7, 2009

Better than Warren Buffet tips

You may not be willing to pay $250,000 to dine with Warren Buffet. But if he offered you a tip, you would fly to Omaha and join him for a decent sized stake in one of his favorite meat joints. How come, then, you're a lot less excited over other risk tips that may change, or even save your life? Read More

July 13, 2009

How Juliette Binoche Nursed the English Patient – Power of Love

Why should we have faith in pharmacy-packaged opiates, and neglect the immense power of the opiates our own brain is capable of generating? The power of love. Read More

July 6, 2009

Holding Becky's Hand

When a person is wounded, they lose more than their health. They lose the ability to assess how well they are doing, where they stand, along with the perspective of where they will be in, say, a year. Read More

June 18, 2009

Genetic testing and the field of dreams (part 2)

The first Annual Consumer Genetics Show in Boston last week, reminded me of the First Automobile Show, New York, 1900. ‘The Grandmother of all Auto Shows' presented vehicles to a world with no highways or navigation tools. A world with barely any road signs, because people rarely wandered outside of their well known realm. The car manufacturers who presented there were perhaps dreamers, but such dreamers, fueled by ambition, adventure, a flare for novel ideas and, let's face it, the desire to make a buck, are what pushes the world forward. Read More

June 14, 2009

Genetic testing and the field of dreams (part 1)

Genetic testing is so widespread, even affordable, that it has become a commodity with companies offering kits for gathering saliva, which are then mailed back, analyzed, and followed up with genetic reports. The technological ability to pore over one's genes dovetails with a zeitgeist promoting choice, knowledge, and patient autonomy. And what better proof to the marriage of zeitgeist and science than the name "The First Annual Consumer Genetics Show" which took place in Boston last week. Read More

Behavioral Economics Basics

Why do we often think we know what we want, only to be disappointed with our purchases and choices? Behavioral economics studies just how irrational we humans can be.

Go to the Behavioral Economics Basics page for more on Behavioral Economics including:

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