Study: Exercise Can Counteract Obesity Genes

Some families, alas, are fatter than others. But for dieters continually at war with their genes, there's good news in a study published in this week's PLoS Medicine: they can burn off 40% of their genetic predisposition to obesity by exercising. Read the full story on Time.com.

How we fail our female vets

My latest piece, from the 7/12 issue, is about the VA hospital system's struggle to accommodate growing numbers of female veterans. Read it here.

A Brief History of YouTube

YouTube turns five this month. It's changed a lot since its simple beginnings in an office above a California pizza joint. Click here for a brief history of YouTube.

Best in Show: Jane Lynch

I missed this week's Madonna episode, but I'm nonetheless psyched Glee has returned from its 4-month hiatus. To mark the occasion, I sat down with Jane Lynch, who plays the show's deliciously evil cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester. She's actually really nice! Read the profile in this week's mag here.

Why Do Women Still Earn Less Than Men?

On Equal Pay Day--an advocacy day intended to raise awareness of the fact that American women still earn 77 cents on the male dollar--my Time.com story explores reasons for the persistent gap. One study I find compelling explored the wage trajectory for workers who underwent a sex change. Even when controlling for factors like education, men who transitioned to women earned, on average, 32% less after the surgery. Women who became men, on the other hand, earned 1.5% more.

Which U.S. Presidents Have Appointed the most Supreme Court Justices?

Once Obama's nominee to succeed Justice Stevens is confirmed (whoever that nominee turns out to be), the President will have seated as many Justices as any first-termer since Richard Nixon, who pushed through four. And we're barely into Year 2.

My piece on Time.com today looks at prolific appointers of ages past.

Q&A: The Male Brain

Despite all that old talk about Mars and Venus, men and women are much more biologically alike than not. But differences in the way our brains are built shed light on everything from the way we flirt, to the way we fight, to how we raise our boys, argues neuropsychiatrist Dr. Louann Brizendine in her provocative new book, The Male Brain. She and I talked about what neurology tells us about sex, the daddy brain, and why some men cheat. Read the interview here.

Why do Americans eat so much salt?

Pepsi's plans for "designer salt" that preserves taste while slashing sodium content are intended to combat a growing public-health problem: Americans consume about twice as much salt as our bodies need, a habit that contributes to hypertension and heart disease. We started developing our salt addiction after World War II, and today it's tough to tell how much we're ingesting. My piece in the mag this week explores why.

The New Sexism

The blatant sexism of eras past, author Susan Douglas argues in our interview up today (available here), has been supplanted by a more insidious form of bias, which suggests that sexist messages are O.K. if delivered with a wink and a nod. (It's fine to enjoy watching catty contestants on The Bachelor snipe at one another — because, come on, we all know most women aren't like that. Ha-ha. Right?) We talked about the economic plight of women today, the dangers of powerful female TV characters and the future of feminism.

How Trust Creates Wealth

I chatted with the interesting Anna Bernasek about her new book, The Economics of Integrity, and how trust is one of the most valuable economic assets we have. She argues that too often we labor under the mistaken impression that doing the right thing keeps us from getting ahead--and that in fact, it's just the opposite.

The death penalty: racist, classist and unfair?

I have an interview up today with David Dow, an appellate lawyer in Texas whose new book, The Autobiography of an Execution, covers his two decades of defending more than 100 death-row inmates. We talked about why he does his job, the problem with juries and what it's like to look murderers in the eye.

The Asian Carp are Coming!!

Not since jaws has a piscine predator caused such a commotion. Inspired by the Asian carp threatening the Great Lakes fishing industry, for this week's magazine I wrote a brief history of invasive species.

Study: Hepatitis threat underestimated

A new Institute of Medicine report this month finds that hepatitis -- which affects 3 to 5 times as many Americans as HIV/AIDS but receives a fraction of the funding and attention -- is a "major" public health problem in the U.S. My Time.com story is here.

What happens to the Haiti relief money?

Millions are pouring in from around the world to aid survivors of the Haiti quake. What happens when it gets there?

How has New York fared in the Great Recession?

We took a look this week at how the world's financial capitals are faring in the Great Recession. Here's my piece on New York; I was surprised to find that the state of the city isn't as bad as the dreary headlines often make it seem.

Why women can scrap those health rules

If you've ever gotten so tangled in conflicting women's health advice that you've felt the urge to give up on the crazy rules altogether, take heart. The authors of the new book Live a Little! say you can go right ahead. In our interview up today on Time.com, they talked about why a little common sense is all you need for a happy, healthy life.

A brief history of anabolic steroids

Mark McGwire's admission to using steroids isn't exactly surprising. But it was news to me that Adolf Hitler may have been among the first people to juice. I wrote about the history of steroids here.

Do air marshals really help?

Three days after the attempted Christmas bombing of Northwest Flight 253, President Obama announced that federal air marshals would ride shotgun on more flights to and from the U.S. Armed, highly trained and unobtrusive, thousands of marshals are currently flying U.S. skies. But, as I note in the history of air marshals I wrote for this week's mag, whether they can prevent airborne attacks is debatable.

A Brief History of Antidepressants

A new study in JAMA suggests that antidepressants provide relief for people with severe depression but do little for people with mild to moderate depression. Here's a history of the drugs, which have always been as controversial as they are popular.

How to Make Doctors Better

Dr. Atul Gawande has a new book out today arguing that the solution to many medical errors isn't more training or technology: it's as simple as a checklist. He draws on examples from pilots, restaurateurs, and construction engineers, among others, to show why. Here's our interview.