"I'm alarmed by this explosion because hookah smoking is perceived by many as not as risky as cigarettes, while in fact the data show on the contrary, it's even riskier. The risk of developing systemic diseases from hookah are even more extensive than cigarette smoking." That comparison to cigarettes may be surprising to many young people who believe that inhaling smoke that's cooled by a waterpipe isn't as harmful as smoking cigarette tobacco. Wrong.

The first few months of a refugee’s life in the U.S. are filled with new experiences. And with doctor’s visits. All that initial care is covered by federal medical assistance. But when that coverage ends, refugees may still have outstanding health issues and no way to pay for them. Gov. Tom Corbett isn’t expanding Medicaid in Pennsylvania this year. It’s estimated that there are more than 600,000 people who could benefit from the Medicaid expansion, but for people like Tamang who face a disappointing reality, even the cheapest insurance plan would still cost him too much.

 Cyrus came from the world of Disney, growing up as Hannah Montana, and was supposedly contractually obligated to keep her hair long. The VMAs has historically been a breeding ground for “shocking” sexual stage work. Cyrus’s twerking was definitely sexual, but was it sexy? She came out of a bear and stuck her tongue out: the statement wasn’t sexy, but the gesture of sex in pop culture will, almost without fail, make audiences’ jaws drop

Obama’s vow to wield the executive pen whenever and wherever he thinks he must amounts to a frontal challenge to the GOP to cease its relentless, dogged, and destructive campaign of dither, delay, denial, and obstructionism to anything that has the White House stamp on it. The GOP knows this but that won’t stop it from eagerly spinning its politically self-serving line of Obama the dictator. 

If living the bohemian lifestyle is about creating, than it would be reductive to dismiss the crusty guy selling newspaper clip art outside of Prospect Park on principle. Dismiss him for making crappy art, sure. True, Hemingway and Baldwin probably benefited from the community of artists that they interacted with, but Emily Dickinson never left her room. Where you are might not hurt, but it might not help much either. What you do matters more. 

The year is off to a strong start in the battle over the presence of genetically modified organisms in our food supply. Commonly known as GMOs, these highly contested phenomena include crop seeds that scientists can modify by inserting genes from different species. Through this type of genetic engineering, also known as biotechnology, scientists can produce disease, drought and herbicide-resistant crops.Despite these benefits, the national debate over genetically modified organisms looms large. 

No country in the world is as experienced as Vietnam is in coping with China. Indeed, for Vietnamese, maintaining stable and minimally friendly relations with Beijing poses formidable and unremitting challenges. During waves of Chinese expansion, these challenges are doubly difficult. On one hand there is the need to deal with an aggressive neighbor in sensitive but self-respecting ways, without unduly compromising national sovereignty and interests. 

Dualism, a popular identifier of Extremists, is easily recognized within Christian Right ideology. The dualist worldview of black/white or good/evil fits quite well into the god/satan; hell/heaven; and angel/demon dichotomy that reigns in scripture and frequents the binary logic of Christians (there’s good, evil and no in between) often invoked by the Christian Right. 

Wednesday marked the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. The decision is rightly credited with saving the lives of thousands of women: According to the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, prior to Roe, 5,000 women died annually from illegal abortions. So while many women are alive thanks to Roe, a strong argument can be made that in terms of quality of life, the ruling left much to be desired, particularly for black women.

The thing that makes the Lulu app problematic, aside from its heteronormativity, is the fact that it does not require consent from the men being rated.  Not only are men not able to see their own ratings, but they are not even informed of their presence on the site.  In order to determine whether or not they are being rated online, they have to either ask a female friend who is a user or download the app themselves.