Michael Prager

Based at Utah State, the Crossroads Project is a collaboration of the Fry Street Quartet and physicist Robert Davies that marries science and art to answer what amounts to the central paradox of modern life: "where the scientific ability to identify unprecedented risk to the natural systems that support us, intersects a societal inability to respond," as a document describing the project expresses it.

[My brother, Richard, is a great world traveler and an awfully punny writer. But his missives from the road — this time for him and his intrepid wife Beverly, it's 7 weeks away: Five weeks cycling from Finland through to Lithuania, then a week in Israel with our family and some friends who'll be there celebrating, then a week in Iceland — are often quite good, IMO.

Quite some time ago, researcher Brian Wansink invited me to periodically stop by the website operated his Food and Brand Lab at Cornell, and I keep forgetting. The upside of my failure is that there’s plenty to peruse, instead of just the one or two conclusions posted since my last visit.

I foreshadowed this post last week, when I began my ripostes to Dr. Chris Ochner, a good guy and respected researcher on obesity, a particular interest of mine. I just want to emphasize, again, that this isn’t about Ochner; it’s about ideas that are well evident in public debate. Our interview, and the aftermath, have provided opportunities for further discussion.

If you’ve been reading along, you know I’ve now had several posts interacting with Dr. Christopher Ochner, a prominent obesity researcher at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. This is another one, responding specifically to his guest post; I just want to say, to keep saying, that Ochner is being generous with his time, and I’m grateful for the interaction.

I love this! Recently I interviewed Dr. Christopher Ochner, a prominent obesity researcher at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Typically, I ask brief open-ended questions, and print the replies, and that’s it.

I recently interviewed Dr. Christopher Ochner, an accomplished researcher at Mount Sinai Hospital, and have found I have a couple of leftovers to discuss. In this post — I don’t know if I’ll write the other — I respond to this answer he gave in the interview:

Welcome to today’s installment of “10 Words or Less,” in which I ask brief questions of interesting people and ask for brief answers in return. In 2009, today’s participant became the youngest member of the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons to run an independent research laboratory, and he’s published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles since. He’s often quoted on matters related to obesity, which is how I learned about him. Please remember: “10 words” is a goal, not a rule, so please no counting at home.

Twice now, I’ve seen the question of growing genetically modified crops framed as a farmers’ rights issue, after voters in two Oregon counties voted overwhelmingly to ban the planting of GMO crops.

If you arrived on this page via a link from elsewhere on this blog, you may think an error has occurred, that you would arrive at some post by the "Center for Consumer Freedom." But I long ago stopped linking to CCF, a liarly named lobbying front for Big Food based in Washington, D.C. and run by serial (and cereal) lobbyist Rick Berman, and, well, a link still seemed called for.