When Public Health Succeeds and No One Hears It, Does It Make a Sound?
A recent St. Louis poll reveals a stark gap between public perception and reality on key health trends: while Americans correctly see rising measles cases and depression, they mistakenly believe drug overdose deaths and gun homicides are worsening, even though data show steady declines. The authors argue that this one‑sided narrative erodes trust in public health, which relies on public belief in its effectiveness. They call for a cultural shift toward routinely communicating both threats and hard‑won successes, highlighting the coordinated interventions that have reduced opioid fatalities. By doing so, public health can reshape its mental model from crisis manager to problem solver.
Into the Light
NASA’s Artemis II mission completed a historic lunar flyby, sending astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen and Reid Wiseman around the Moon and back—the first crewed deep‑space flight since Apollo 17. The 40‑minute communications blackout on the Moon’s far side highlighted the mission’s technical achievement...
A Healthier Profit
"A Healthier Profit," slated for release by Oxford University Press, examines how commercial activity now drives the majority of preventable disease worldwide. The authors argue that food systems, pollution, and climate change—rooted in profit‑seeking business models—are the primary health threats,...
Green Shoots in Public Health
Public health is emerging from pandemic‑induced strain with tangible progress at global, national, and local levels. Internationally, Brazil approved a single‑dose dengue vaccine, WHO endorsed long‑acting HIV prevention injectables and prequalified a triple diagnostic test, and the 2025 Pandemic Agreement...
A Purple Public Health: Remembering the Values that Sustain Us
The Purple Public Health Project released a reflective essay linking public‑health practice to small‑l liberalism, emphasizing pluralism, consequentialism, and procedural values. It argues that recent illiberal trends have eroded public trust and that re‑engaging with liberal norms can restore legitimacy....
The Economics of Attention
The article examines how the attention economy shapes the information we consume, highlighting systematic biases from content creators, platforms, and personal algorithms. It notes that elite, privately‑educated voices dominate media commentary, while a small minority generates most social‑media content. Platform...