pp. 28-30
There’s plenty of information about cord-blood banking available online, most of it advertorial content targeted at young mothers. Dr. Barbara E. Cruickshank appears to be offering the straight goods in her overview of the subject, posted on the Parents Canada site. American Baby magazine features advice from Karin A. Bilich on what parents should ask before deciding on a cord-blood banking facility.
As Ann Silversides suggested, the pressure for parents to invest in cord-blood banking can sometimes be overwhelming. Alix Christie wrote about her experience with the private banks for Salon.com in 2000. “The Cord Blood Controversy” stirred up its own controversy, when cord-blood banking supporters inundated the journal with correctives.
Dr. Leroy C. Edozien weighs in on the cord-blood controversy in an article published in the October 2006 issue of the British Medical Journal. He acknowledges that cord-blood banking may seem appealing to young parents, but argues that it should not be promoted on British maternity units.
A valuable source of information on this increasingly contentious issue is the Stem Cell Research Blog. (The site includes material on how this issue has developed within India.) This isn’t a professional medical site, but the administrator keeps a close eye on recent developments in the cord-blood banking world and posts regularly.
“Here Comes the Heat”
Alanna Mitchell
pp. 33-41
For one of the best Internet resources on abrupt climate change, check out the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s website, which includes articles on many different aspects of the issue and a useful Q&A on the film The Day After Tomorrow. (Q: In the movie, a giant hurricane descends from the Arctic, freezing people with -150° F wind. Is this possible? A: No.)
Think you’re ready to delve deeper into the science of the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum? You can read Appy Sluijis’ doctoral thesis on the subject at the University of Utrecht’s online Universiteitsbibliotheek. A warning, however: much of Appy’s work addresses the effect of “meridional temperature gradients” on “dinoflagellate Apectodinium.”
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