A recent trend lauds the supposedly obvious benefits of locally produced diets and of urban agriculture in particular. These benefits, they say, offer antidotes to pollution, poverty, and illness, and many advocates are urging cities to take action to encourage the growth of food farming in small urban spaces in order to introduce more locally produced food into the market.

     To evaluate these proposals, it is helpful to compare the claims with facts. A central idea of urban agriculturists is that the transportation of non-local food creates pollution. In fact, transportation constitutes a minute percentage of the agricultural sector`s greenhouse gas emissions, and the production inefficiencies inherent in farming on small plots could easily erase gains made in transportation. Large rural farms transport production workers and equipment much more efficiently. Moreover, mode of transportation affects the carbon footprint of a meal. The shipment of food over long distances by train or tractor-trailer often consumes less fuel than does transportation more locally using smaller vehicles.

     For urban planners, land use is potentially the most contentious aspect of urban agriculture. Sunlit spaces, especially in the largest and most densely populated cities, often come at a premium. Given the limits on yields and profit margins for food agriculture, costs and benefits must be weighed against those of other businesses in terms of job creation, aesthetic value (since agriculture is a messy business), and scalability (local food`s high price limits the market and raises the possibility of saturation). Limited space may be better utilized by housing or retail outlets than by urban gardening.

     It is obvious that there is not enough data on urban agriculture to justify implementation of agriculture-promoting policies within the limits of the largest cities. Many faddish environmental projects in the last two centuries have failed to live up to their promises and subsequently waned, and so might the urban agriculture movement. Meanwhile, the many urban farms currently in operation will have the chance to defy such cynicism, and city governments would do well to allocate resources to those that do.

     Finzer predicts that the possibilities for medical research could be expanded through a strategic deployment of the data-gathering and -analysis technologies now becoming available. Currently, huge amounts of data are already being generated for each patient-raising hopes for the possibility of highly personalized medicine-as well as by clinical studies and other methods that promise to allow comparison across populations. Although data storage and access present security and privacy concerns, Finzer points out that the benefits far outweigh the risks, which can be mitigated. Both local and internet-based storage solutions have been proposed for minimizing the possibility of patient data theft.

     Finzer hopes not only that data will be gathered and stored but also that the medical community will recognize the need for more medically-trained data scientists to analyze the data. Often medical researchers simply employ a computer scientist with little medical knowledge to perform specific analysis-related tasks. Results produced using this method are likely to overlook important factors, correlations, or anomalies in the data. A closer collaboration between medical and data science, Finzer says, would allow researchers to fully exploit the possibilities the vast amounts of available data present by increasing understanding in the medical and data science fields of how data is organized and what it implies, respectively, allowing better collaboration on projects where the two are strongly intertwined. For example, computer modeling could speed or improve clinical trials of treatments in humans. The field of genetics also routinely employs computer models.

     In semi-aquatic ecosystems, bodies of water present peculiar difficulties for the hunting strategies of spiders. Ponds, lakes, and rivers can provide unnavigable escape vectors for prey organisms, making it likely that predators will lose out on valuable nutritional resources. The water spider Dolomedes, in particular, demonstrates adaptations that allow it to take advantage of waterborne food sources.

     The difficulty that members of the species Dolomedes face is best evidenced by the typical hunting strategies of terrestrial spiders. All spiders produce silk and arboreal species generally spin their silk into fine, latticework structures that they suspend in the environment to trap passing arthropods, which entangle themselves due to the exigencies of the forested ecosystem. In environs lacking tree coverage or comparable large structures, however, web-hunting becomes inefficient, and other strategies of predation have to be pursued. That many spider species persist in environments lacking significant tree coverage suggests that certain behavioral adaptations enable them to locate food effectively in a variety of environmental circumstances.

     One such adaptation is the proactive use of water bodies by Dolomedes, who eschew silk in favor of water tension, which they use to monitor the movements of prey animals. Organisms fall into a pond, lake, or river, and send waves vibrating from the point of impact across the surface of the pool. Dolomedes uses these vibrations to locate and capture the fallen organism. For arboreal spiders, who can only monitor the vibrations caused by insects caught in the webs they`ve spun, this is useless information. Such a hunting strategy does not require that the arboreal spiders pay attention to extraneous prey when other prey is acquired in abundance by other adaptations. In comparison, Dolomedes acquires its prey by yet another aquatic adaptation, using a coat of tiny, hydrophobic hairs that allow the spider to submerge itself in the liquid environment. By causing a pocket of air to gather and surround the surface of the spider`s body, these hairs allow Dolomedes to submerge itself in water, thus giving it access to sources of prey closed off to other species.

     When Venezuelan-born political leader Simón Bolívar arrived in Europe to pursue his military education when he was a teenager, he arrived at a fortuitous time in world history. What made the time exceptional was Napoleon`s 1804 coronation as emperor of France and the wars throughout Europe still ongoing in the wake of the French Revolution, which made the environment ripe for someone determined to achieve freedom, self-determination, and independence from European colonial overlords for the peoples of Latin America.

     Hoping to emulate the revolutionary successes of other colonial societies, many of the countries administered by Spain watched the radical political changes occurring in Europe and North America with longing, even as they continued to be ruled from abroad by foreign elites. The people of Latin America saw their incipient nations exploited for the profit of Madrid, just as they had been for centuries. Summarizing modern historical scholarship, most academics with knowledge of the period argue that the period of revolution in early nineteenth-century Latin America was an inevitable consequence of the dissemination of Enlightenment ideals: a mature society conscious of the prospect of self-rule will almost invariably attempt to bring about that eventuality, by armed means or otherwise.

     Some historians maintain that Bolívar is responsible for the revolutionary circumstances from which he manufactured, in the early years of the nineteenth century, the most momentous set of political changes in Latin American history. But such a narrative only obfuscates the historical trends that had already imbued most Latin American polities with a revolutionary spirit. This spirit did not originate with Bolívar; instead, he served as its focal point and primary agent in world affairs.

     Everest and Jengish Chokusu, two of the tallest mountains on earth, are both products of collisions between continental plates and other tectonic forces. Ojos del Salado and Llullaillaco are somewhat shorter and the product of volcanic forces. The formation of these mountains can be compared to that of the planets in our solar system, in which the original stellar material congealed to form multiple celestial bodies with wildly varying sizes, compositions, and physical characteristics. The mountains of Earth are, however, more identifiable than the materials from which they originally formed: mountains are formed from the same rocks and minerals that have existed on Earth for billions of years. Everest, for example, is largely composed of limestone and marble, Jengish Chokusu consists primarily of crystalline and sedimentary rocks, and though Ojos del Salado and Llullaillaco are both different types of volcanic peak, both have similar metamorphic compositions.

     The distinction between volcanic and tectonically formed peaks has behavioral ramifications. Ojos de Salado remains an active volcano, and Llullaillaco is dormant at present but has been active in the past. Everest and Jengish Chokusu were formed from a tectonic plate collision millions of years ago, so they exhibit no volcanic activity. Because of that, the appearances of Everest and Jengish Chokusu are permanent, more or less; tectonic changes occur more slowly than volcanic changes and those two mountains will change but very gradually. On the other hand, the appearances of Ojos del Salado and Llullaillaco might change rapidly and with little warning, as dormant volcanoes have been known to become active and volcanic eruptions can radically reshape mountains in a matter of moments.

     A recent underwater survey has found clues in a Mayan cenote, a type of sinkhole, about the development of the Mesoamerican city of Mayapán (1150–1450 CE). The city wall curves to avoid this particular cenote, Sac Uayum, in which research divers found more than a dozen skeletal human remains. Normally cenotes are found within city limits, to provide water, so the location of the cenote and number of remains are notably atypical.

     Researchers are considering various possibilities to explain their findings. A theory that the cenote might have served as a general city cemetery was rejected, because most city residents were interred near or under their homes. A theory of ceremonial human sacrifice was dismissed because the bones were unmarked, showing no indications of rituals or cause of death. A theory of social elitism was eliminated, because shards of other artifacts discovered at the same site were mainly those of plain water pitchers, displaying no indications of wealth or high social rank. So far the most tenable interpretation under consideration is that the cenote may have served as an attempt at contagious-disease containment-a plague pit, kept deliberately beyond the city wall and apart from drinking water supplies. The persistence into modern times of local taboos and superstitions around Sac Uayum, threatening death if the gods are not appeased with rituals before the water is approached, lends further credence to the researchers` theory.

     Scientists have long known that two brain structures lying below the rostrum of the corpus callosum, called septal nuclei (SNs), play a significant role in human pleasure response. This part of the brain interacts with many other elements of the limbic system, which regulates fear expression and other forms of emotional response. Studies show that in some animals, most notably rats, electrical stimulation of SNs can motivate self-stimulation, causing them to perform such behaviors as manipulating levers or returning to regions of their housing that administer further electrical stimulation. Furthermore, connections between the SNs and portions of the brain dedicated to olfaction and memory retention have also been discovered.

     Several other neural structures have been found to play a role in governing the brain`s emotional responses, however, not just the SNs of rats and humans. In fact, when laboratory rats had electrical stimulation applied to their habenular nuclei, pleasure responses shifted by 30 percent, whereas the same electrical shock applied to the SNs produced a lesser result. While scientists remain convinced that SNs play a role in the brain`s regulation of fear, sadness, joy, and pleasure response, scientists now believe that other neural structures may respond more forcefully to stimulation-even if the voltage of the shock administered doesn`t change-than the septal nuclei.

     Cap and Trade (a government measure to incentivize the reduction of carbon emissions by business entities through financial means) has become a popular method to reduce air pollution by nations across the world, with many witnessing substantial reductions in CO2 emissions since its implementation. Carlos Sangster and Stephen Saifuddin recognize that this development is a positive one but stipulate that Cap and Trade in itself may actually increase the long-term likelihood of environmental catastrophe. Emissions trading measures, like Cap and Trade, incentivize certain companies to reduce their emissions but allow companies that can afford to do so to continue to produce emissions at historic levels; indeed, the largest companies often accept the costs of Cap and Trade measures because, despite moderately increased overhead, they can do so and still sustain record profits and growth. Moreover, there is no guarantee that short-term reductions in carbon emissions will translate into reductions in the total amount of fossil fuels used, because even into the far future, fossil fuels might easily remain more cost-effective than more environmentally-friendly alternatives. Even if government regulations were to make carbon emissions vastly more expensive, the current fossil fuel-based economic model would, were it to grow or even remain at its current size, produce more atmospheric carbon dioxide and global warming than would an economic model that put a hard cap on the amount of carbon emissions that could be produced. Sangster and Saifuddin argue that to effectively protect the planet`s environmental health and encourage a more sustainable fuel economy, governments must implement measures that mandate environmentally-friendly energy sources and keep as-yet untapped fossil fuels safely underground. Unduly emphasizing halfway measures like Cap and Trade, which appeal to business entities and political interests with a vested stake in the prolonged use of fossil fuels, may distract global regulators from policies that might prove more effective in averting the disastrous effects of climate change.

     Linguists have offered two explanations describing the origins of language among human populations. Because the use of language is universal among ethno-cultural groups and distinct from any communicative capacity developed elsewhere in the animal kingdom, both explanations assert that the biological evolution of the human organism has exerted some influence on the development of language.

     Proponents of explanation A, or the "continuity theory," take issue with the suggestion that the development of language occurred fairly suddenly in the course of human evolution. Observations have shown that non-human animals communicate, even in surprisingly complex ways, within kin groups and across species. Human language is incredibly complex and it is difficult to assert that such a complex system could have developed without a long series of evolutionary iterations. Thus it is useful to consider the communication methods of other organisms as analogues to the possible stages of human linguistic development. Scientists have also suggested that human communicative capacities are evolutionary adaptations similar to echolocation among bats or stereopsis among lesser primates: unique abilities particular to the human organism but nonetheless the product of long-form evolutionary processes.

     However, explanation A is not uncontroversial. Critics point out that human language far outstrips the complexity of any known animal communication mechanism and that, therefore, any hypothesis emphasizing iterative development is of limited explanatory utility. They argue that any evolutionary development as unprecedented as human language must have a comparably unprecedented explanation. They support explanation B, "the discontinuity theory," which can be understood in multiple ways.

     Language, some proponents of explanation B argue, requires an advanced cognitive capacity that pre-human primates (hominids) did not possess. Modern humans achieved language function through the relatively abrupt development of advanced brain anatomy, the "language organ." This development is supposedly the result of a significant mutation within the human genome. Sudden mutations often have negative effects, making this instance all the more peculiar. Another understanding of the "discontinuity theory" suggests the sudden development of language among human populations is due to a social revolution among early human communities. Even if early human populations had already developed the capacity for language, it went undeveloped until social and cultural factors demanded otherwise. Early human communities can be compared to naturally talented basketball players whose skills go unrecognized until they`re scouted by a perceptive coach.

     In eighteenth-century Britain, industrial production and domestic consumption of cheap goods rose precipitously. To understand both the cultural causes and impacts of this trend, historians have increasingly turned to analysis of its incipience in the seventeenth century. According to this method, evidence from material culture-the mass of objects that makes up the setting and the tools of a people`s everyday lives-demonstrates that seemingly smaller, slower changes to people`s goods and their attitudes about them laid the groundwork for the rapid and sweeping change that followed. The availability of extremely cheap tobacco pipes and sewing thimbles, for example, made these the first truly disposable goods to be widely consumed in Britain. Moreover, households began to change shape as fireplaces and cookware came to accomodate the warmer, more convenient coal that began to replace wood as fuel.

     However, there were new additions to British material culture that can be properly assigned to the eighteenth century. In one example, the widespread acceptance of conspicuous consumption outside of London was slow to materialize. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, excessive material wealth and especially gaudy displays of it were considered to be not only uncouth but also immoral; as average household wealth increased and goods became more widely available throughout the country, consumption for its own sake became normalized in every region.

     A recent analysis has yielded information about the decline of megafauna (giant animals) in modern-day New Zealand. Evolutionary biologists compared DNA from fossils of nine species of moa, large flightless birds that lived for millions of years on the country`s South Island. The birds` genetic information suggests that their populations were stable for at least 4,000 years before declining with extreme rapidity only after the arrival of humans on the New Zealand archipelago, 600 years ago.

     In reviewing possible causes for this phenomenon, the scientists dismissed the climatic explanation that accounts for the decline of other megafauna because the extinction happened long after other megafauna had disappeared at the end of the last Ice Age. They ruled out sampling bias because a sample selection impact would not have allowed for the different results observed between the nine species. They rejected the possibility of major impacts by disease or volcanic activity because consistent genetic diversity indicates that no population diminishment occurred prior to the arrival of humans to New Zealand. The lack of population decline prior to human arrival suggests that the moa extinction was caused entirely by human hunting-a hypothesis corroborated by the remains of moa at every life stage found in rubbish piles from the earliest decade of human occupation of the islands. Such evidence leads the researchers to believe that the earliest Polynesian arrivals to New Zealand engaged in indiscriminate hunting of moa and moa eggs because their large size made them attractive as easily obtained food.

     A new discovery adds another element to the complex relationship between humans and felines in the prehistoric Americas. Archaeologists recently realized that a skeleton discovered at the Illinois Hopewell Burial Mounds had been misidentified as a dog. The bones actually belonged to a bobcat, probably between four and seven months old when it perished almost two thousand years ago. The bobcat burial was striking in its similarity to human interments, and is possibly the first decorated wildcat burial ever discovered.

     In considering the implications of this discovery, the researchers dismissed the possibility that the bobcat had been sacrificed, because the skeleton did not show signs of any trauma. They decided it was not an intrusive burial because it so closely mirrored the style of Hopewell human burials. They also do not believe the cat was venerated as a wild predator, because its grave did not contain the ceremonial adornments present in coyote burial sites. The conclusion the researchers have drawn is that the bobcat had a much closer relationship to the humans who buried it-that is to say, it may have been domesticated, occupying a place within the residential sphere. Such a conclusion, according to the researchers, is further supported by two Hopewellian artifacts, an effigy pipe and a ceramic figurine, adorned with human-bobcat imagery.

When Medgar Evers applied to the then-segregated University of Mississippi Law School in February 1954, he did so at a crucial moment in American history. Three months later, in May, the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education struck down state-sponsored segregation, stating that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." The school’s refusal to admit Evers drew the interest of the NAACP and ultimately became the epicenter of its historic campaign to desegregate the school.

The Brown v. Board of Education ruling paved the way for integration and was a major victory for the civil rights movement, but the South was not ready to accept the change. The state governments of Texas, Arkansas, Florida and Alabama actively fought the decision, with some politicians physically blocking African American students’ entry into high schools and universities, moving aside only when confronted with military officers sent by the federal government to enforce the law. The entrenched racism of the South came into conflict with the rest of the country, creating a sense for African Americans that they would have to fight for the rights that had, legally, already been granted to them.

Evers was an active public figure, conducting well-publicized investigations into race-based injustices being perpetrated in the South, such as the unprosecuted murder of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till. This limelight brought numerous death threats and attempts on his life. On June 12, 1963, just hours after President John F. Kennedy's historic Civil Rights Address, Evers was shot in the back outside his home by a white supremacist. While his death was undoubtedly a tragic loss, some scholars have suggested that it galvanized the African American community, giving many members renewed motivation to carry on Evers’s crusade. His murder was a rallying cry for those who supported civil rights in the U.S., and his legacy continues to lend strength to the ongoing campaign for racial equality.

     Miranda and Ariel are the innermost of Uranus`s five largest moons, about one seventh and one third of the size of Earth`s moon, respectively. Both appear to be roughly half ice and half rock. Titania and Oberon, Uranus`s two largest moons, are the farthest large moons from Uranus and also seem to be composed of about half ice and half rock. None of the five largest moons of Uranus have any detectable atmosphere or magnetic field. This contrasts sharply with the moons of Jupiter, the compositional and atmospheric characteristics of which differ based on the moon`s distance from the planet.

     Despite their compositional similarities, the geographies of the moons of Uranus differ greatly. Miranda, the smallest of the five major moons, has huge canyons, some of which are 12 miles deep, a characteristic that is especially notable given that the moon itself has a diameter of only 290 miles. Miranda`s entire surface is marked by massive faults, steep cliffs, smooth plains, and curiously shaped rifts; these features indicate a significant amount of recent geological activity. Ariel, on the other hand, has a few larger craters on the surface, but most are small. Many of Ariel`s craters seem to be submerged to some degree. This indicates that the surface is relatively young, having been reshaped by geological movement. On Titania, a number of rift valleys, similar to those on Ariel but less extensive, crisscross the moon's surface. Titania's surface also reveals several faults; these indicate that the most recent geological activity on the moon was a very long time ago. Similarly, Oberon, the outermost of the five major moons, hasn`t changed much recently. Its impact craters are more common and much bigger than the craters on Ariel and Titania, but its faults are limited to the southern hemisphere and are old enough to indicate a lack of geological activity anytime in recent history.

     Fishing is a profession that faces two major problems. First, it is extremely difficult to make a decent living as a fisherman. Fluctuating market prices and unpredictable weather conditions, not to mention climate change, make the occupation inherently unstable. Yet some protected marine animals, most notably sharks, are worth massive sums in certain markets. The fishermen who are willing to illegally catch these animals are some of the only fishermen with relative financial stability.     I would like to make an outrageous suggestion that would in one fell swoop increase financial stability for many fishermen and severely cut into the black market in shark cartilage and meat. I would propose that the government sponsor a project to find a shark species that is suitable to farming, and then train fishermen to open and operate farms that raise those sharks for their lucrative commodities. This scheme would give struggling fishermen a stable, profitable alternative to trawling for ever-lessening schools of commonly sold fish like cod and salmon. At the same time, the unregulated black market would lose its monopoly on shark products.      You might object that fishermen aren`t farmers or that the international black market in a given commodity is not our concern. I agree. We should not ask fishermen to do this work if they don`t care to, and we should not try to farm sharks solely to eliminate a black market in their products. But, you might argue, fish farming has many inherent issues and, by providing shark products, we are condoning the capture of wild sharks. And here, we part ways. Fish farming is only problematic when it is undertaken irresponsibly, and there is a marked difference between farmed marine commodities and those that are obtained by poaching.      Our current thinking about sharks is limited to (often endangered) wild sharks, because no species has been found that is suitable for farming. The image that comes to mind when we think about shark products is one of a poacher slicing off a shark's fins and dumping the helpless animal back in the water to die. This limits our ability to think creatively about the animal itself and its value to the world economy. If we could farm sharks to relatively large sizes, say, five or six feet, then (in addition to, of course, not hunting wild sharks) we could generate a significant amount of income for struggling fishermen: sharks` fins, jaws, meat and skin are all worth significant amounts in markets around the world.     It would be unrealistic to suggest that shark poaching would end entirely if this plan were undertaken. But the demand for the illicit product would be significantly reduced. Who would want a fin torn from a wild shark in an unknown state of health and under inhumane conditions when another was available from a healthy, safe, well-documented stable of sustainably harvested animals?

Many corporations, educational institutions, and publishers have made efforts in recent years to shift from paper-based reading to electronic and online reading in order to save paper. According to this logic, paper is gleaned from trees, which must be replenished, and the energy required to recycle paper waste is another blow to the environment as well as to organizations` finances. However, researcher Emma Gardsdale sees more gray area in the issue. First, in order for e-reading to be practical, tablets and e-readers are required. Because these devices have a limited lifespan of one to four years, they create e-waste which puts poisons such as arsenic, lead, and poly-brominated flame retardants into landfills, where they can leach into water supplies and soil. Second, e-reading has a hidden cost: the electricity required to power servers, computers and mobile devices. Gardsdale also points out that the ecological balance between paper reading and e-reading depends significantly on the amount of reading that one does. An e-reader, for example, will have a smaller carbon footprint than paper only if it is used for at least a certain volume of reading. Gardsdale argues that the current all-encompassing enthusiasm for the ecological promise of electronic reading isn`t the quick ecological fix it may seem to be. Over the long term, she says, both paper and electronic reading will likely have a place in our lives. Each method`s role will depend on the energy-saving and waste-minimizing technologies that become available in the coming years, and on whether corporations that manufacture mobile reading devices are willing to take responsibility for the impact of their devices` life cycles.

     Yawning is a reflex consisting of the simultaneous intake of air and reflexive stretching of the eardrums, followed by an exhalation of breath. There are two leading theories of the purpose of yawning, both in humans and other animals. Because yawning is common to most vertebrates, biologists assume that it plays an important role in survival. Two competing theories, dubbed "A" and "B," seek to explain how.      Supporters of theory A argue that the primary purpose of yawning is to keep the brain cool. The human brain is quite sensitive to even small temperature increases: our reaction times increase and our recall is diminished when the temperature of the brain differs a few tenths of a degree from the perfect temperature of 98.6° F. The proponents of theory A point out that, in terms of escaping from a predator, these tiny temperature changes in the brain could easily be the difference between life and death.      However, critics of theory A argue that yawning is not more common in warmer climates, and that the body has much more sophisticated methods of maintaining the optimal temperature in the brain-the circulatory system, for one example, and sweating, for another. They advocate theory B, which claims that yawning plays a primarily social role based on the fact that yawning is "contagious."      Because yawning is so demonstrative and affects the body so little, say supporters of theory B, the reflex is most likely a social mode of communication that happens to have some slight physiological effects. The contagiousness of yawning has been shown to be stronger among group members who feel closer to each other, implying that it has a major social component. Based on this information, theory B claims that the primary purpose of yawning is to communicate an increased need for alertness throughout a group. This alertness, according to theory B, is only slightly encouraged by the yawning itself; the real benefit of the contagious yawn is that the yawning animal is reminded to stay alert to the other members of the group and to the surroundings.

     The World Bank has offered ethical guidance to the governments of nations in making priority-setting decisions for pharmaceutical policy. A leading point of this counsel is to respond in only limited ways to patient demands for therapies that are not cost-effective. In every healthcare system, there is a possibility, and, frankly, a reality of overspending in the course of treatment, wasting a nation's limited resources. Patients who independently finance needless treatments that create no further medical costs manifest a less problematic form of overspending, but their treatment nevertheless potentially represents economic dead weight and the diversion of limited resources that could be applied toward necessary ends. Overspending public funds is even more problematic, since public sector spending is systematic and controllable through policy. Most serious is over-medication that harms the patient or others. A leading example of such an erroneous practice is the excessive administration of antibiotics, which, in fostering antimicrobial resistance, may pose as much risk or even greater risk than under-administration of vaccines. Decreasing wasteful medical expenditures is important in the effort to the World Bank's suggested primary goal, which is to maintain a cost-effective pharmaceutical system that maximally, and equitably, improves population health.      Furthermore, the World Bank recommended, as a counterpart to these measures, efforts to improve the population's understanding of pharmaceutical uses and choices. This long-term goal is equally important and equally difficult to achieve in wealthier nations. Better public understanding helps decrease the tension between less-informed wants and well-determined needs. Culturally ingrained maxims, such as a preference for injections, do not change overnight. Furthermore, relying on brand identification can be a rational strategy for information-limited consumers worldwide. Nevertheless, moving citizens to a more informed and empowered position is an ethical obligation, as well as a strategy to reduce costs and minimize risks.