In recent years, a number of medical organizations and institutes have created sites that feature weekly podcasts, and this particular one from Johns Hopkins Medicine is a nice find. Started in October 2005, each podcast lasts from five to seven minutes and features a "lively discussion of the week's medical news and how it may affect you." Past topics have dealt with the risks of not immunizing...

Johns Hopkins University has a number of public outreach programs designed to get the good word out about their various research findings, and their online Public Health Magazine fits quite neatly into their comprehensive program. Each issue contains news briefs, feature articles, expert essays, and a number of online extras. Visitors can read the most current issue, or they can delve into the...

As the average age of persons in the United States continues to rise, there is a growing need to educate people about various aspects of gerontology. At Ithaca College, the staff members at the Gerontology Institute have worked to create a range of lesson plans that deal explicitly with aging issues. All of these plans have been field tested in the classroom and they were designed to meet rigorous...

As the American population continues to age, there is a growing concern in some quarters that the government and the private sector might be ill-prepared with the increased demands of an older population. The Brookings Institution published a rather insightful 28-page paper on the growth of older America, authored by noted demographer William H. Frey. Drawing on analyses performed with data from...

For nurses and other health care professionals who seek to distinguish the habitus from the humerus, this online medical dictionary provided by MedicineNet will be a place to bookmark for repeat visits. The dictionary contains well-written explanations for over 16,000 medical terms, and users can go ahead and browse around, or enter keywords or phrases into the search engine that resides on the...

Developed by The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a team of administrators and physicians, MedPage Today is a clearinghouse of new and compelling medical news information. Along with these accessible and well-written updates, the site also includes “Teaching Brief” articles which help clinicians and consumers to understand the implications of these new discoveries and developments...

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) produces a staggering array of working papers, research documents, and policy briefs for use by people in the public and private sectors. Since the fall of 2002, they have published over 40 installments of their "Bulletin on Aging and Health". Visitors to the site can take advantage of their research and insights by browsing around this archive....

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is the research arm of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) that focuses on aging research. Their website is geared both toward researchers and laypeople, particularly seniors. Visitors can click on the links, such as "Publications", "Alzheimer's Disease Information" and "Clinical Trials" next to the "Health Information" heading, on the right side of...

Among the multitude of research programs and centers at the Harvard School of Public Health, there is one that gerontologists and persons with an interest in aging issues will want to explore further. It is the Program on the Global Demography of Aging (PGDA), and it is primarily concerned with "themes related to global aging and health, with an emphasis on issues in the developing world."...

Who could you count on in an emergency? Do you have a network of people to talk with about relationships, family issues, and the like? These are some of the thorny questions that some sociologists consider of the utmost importance when peering into the heart of contemporary society. According to this study, released in June 2006, Americans’ circle of close friends has shrunk rather dramatically,...