Bing Health Maps

Hey! Bing has a fancy new tool. It's called Health Maps. It's an easy, colorful way to get health information at the state and county level. You can choose a state and a community health indicator. A map of results is drawn right over the location you selected. It's quite handy! The data is drawn from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Science, at your fingertips

Let's say you have a need to know about SARS in China. And you don't have access to a fancy scholarly database. Now let's say you are a researcher who wants to disseminate your work published but also vetted and made open to the public. Although very different, the people in these two scenarios could have their needs met at the same place- The Public Library of Science (PLoS). It's an open-source, peer-reviewed gem that can help you find out about SARS in China, pink eye, and the sounds elephants make when bees get too close for their comfort. The collection included journals such as PLoS Pathogens, PLoS Computational Biology, and my personal favorite, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Eradicate pests!

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has a new online exhibit. It's called Health for the People: Continuity and Change in Asian Medicine.  Check it out! You'll find some wonderful posters and medical advertisements from China from the 1920s to the 1970s.

Cover your mouth!

Ah, spring is in the air. But wait! It's still cold and flu season! You know what that means? It means we should reflect and remember on the public health campaigns of the past. We're in luck! The National Library of Medicine has a new exhibit. It's called An Iconography of Contagion. This exhibit features public health posters from the 20th Century. The exhibit key alone is worth looking at.

Looking for a good book on disease? Give these a try:
The Ghost Map
Influenza 1918

Now go wash your hands.