Low Vitamin D Levels Associated With More Asthma Symptoms and Medication Use. Not a randomized double blind study. Rather, they look at the correlation, and they did some cell biology experiments. Looks like high levels of vitamin D enhances the action of corticosteroids.

Recreational genome sequencing for the whole family. I’m kind of irritated as the “ethical concerns” about this information. Information may not always want to be free, but this is pretty much an inevitability. Since there’s no plausible way you can cordon it off you need to educate people to use the information wisely. Unfortunately most of the populace is not too intelligent, but that just means you need to work hard in making the heuristics simple and obvious.

Genetic Basis for Health Benefits of the ‘Mediterranean Diet’. Turns out it might be a matter of gene expression.

Thinking About Tomorrow. Delaying gratification is really important, and often hard.

Why Texas is doing so much better economically than the rest of the nation. Daniel Gross focuses on the fact that Texas is globalizing and export-oriented. I note that only Utah has a lower median age. I suspect that the young work force in its peak years makes it easy for Texas to have a low public service state and focus on private sector wealth generation.