Weekend Longforms: Influenza, willpower, kids with brain cancer, and an IVF mixup
January 17, 2025
A. The subclade that’s making influenza so widespread this year
It’s been an ugly flu season so far, and it’s not nearly over. Helen Branswell of StatNews has a deeply researched article on subclade K, the variant of influenza A which predominates current infections in the US.
B. Willpower doesn’t work!
Here are two articles about why changing behavior is not about willpower - but rather about setting up your environment to limit the opportunity to make bad choices.
The psychologist and author Angela Duckworth has an op-ed “Willpower doesn’t work” in the New York Times.
I also recommend a 2019 New Yorker article, “Can Brain Science Help Us Break Bad Habits?” by Jerome Groopman, MD. The subtitle of the article “Studies suggest that relying on will power is hopeless. Instead, we must find strategies that don’t require us to be strong.”
C. Pediatric brain cancers from the point of view of kids and their families
Ed Pilkington of The Guardian has a heartbreaking article on families of children with brain cancer, where the options for clinical trials have shrunken considerably due to federal cuts.
D.An unimaginable IVF mixup
Reporter Susan Dominus tells a moving story about an IVF embryo mixup - a story that has an unlikely redeeming ending. This was featured in the New York Times podcast The Daily on Friday. The original article was published in 2024 - here’s a gift link.
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Views expressed in Employer Coverage are purely my own.
Scroll down for animal photo!
Today’s animal photo:
Long Eared Owl (Yellowstone, September, 2025)
