Viewpoints: Why Hasn’t Polio Been Eradicated?; Here’s Why Americans Are Always Fatigued
Editorial writers discuss polio, sleep deprivation, nuclear testing, and digital health.
The fight to eradicate polio has been long and difficult. It’s been nearly 50 years since vaccines eliminated the disease in the United States. But polio continues to this day disabling or killing children in some harder to reach parts of the world. The good news is that we are now on the cusp of eradicating this terrible disease everywhere and forever. (Richard Conniff, 5/22)
The National Institutes of Health reports that 50 to 70 million people suffer sleep disorders. The most common of those is insomnia, said Renske Lok, a sleep medicine specialist at Stanford University, which is associated with stress and mental health problems. (F.D. Flam, 5/21)
The men and women came to Capitol Hill last week bearing surgical scars, lengthy medical histories and fading photographs of loved ones long dead. They came from across the country to walk the halls of Congress and show lawmakers the human cost of the U.S. nuclear weapons program. (W.J. Hennigan, 5/22)
History and literature are replete with cautionary tales on the dangers of pretending to be someone — or something — you aren’t. Many digital health companies failed to heed the lesson, and the results have been predictable. (Omar Manejwala, 5/22)