Editor’s picks: The best from around the web

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Check out these offerings from elsewhere in the online world:

In Slate, Darshak Sanghavi, a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, takes the populace to task for its sometimes skewed health priorities: ‘Last month, the London Independent ran a sensationalist story about cell phones causing brain tumors, and the Breast Cancer Fund released a comprehensive report on carcinogenic chemicals women should avoid. Other recent cancer-causing culprits in the news include ‘pesticides, power lines and solvents. This thinking cleaves to a popular motif: The natural world is less toxic and more healthful than the industrial one.... Unwittingly, we’ve seriously impreded cancer prevention with this not-so-useful distinction between the natural and artificial. It’s distracted us from the uncomfortable truth that most cancers are caused by the natural environment around us.’

The Washington Post offers a new outline for talking to kids about sex: ‘Changes in reproductive technology, a new openness about formerly closeted subjects and the flaunting of overtly sexual imagery in news and entertainment outlets have shifted the parameters of the traditional preteen birds-and-bees talk.... Today, experts urge partents to welcome questions on sexuality by the time their kids can ask why the sky is blue.’

And the Boston Globe chronicles the growing evidence that exercise is good for the body - and the mind: ‘Monday mornings, Theo Baars’ exhausting depression often tries to seduce him into just staying in bed. But then, he says, a staffer at Appleton House, a residence for people with psychotic disorders at McLean Hospital, comes into his room and says, insistently: ‘You want to go work out.’ So Baars, a 22-year-old surfer and musician drags himself to McLean’s new gym and sweats through a half hour of presses and curls. And then, he finds, he doesn’t want to go back to bed. And more: His confidence is pumped up.’

Those are three of the more interesting articles I’ve found today. Found a story you like? Send it along.

- Tami Dennis

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