I am holding in my hot little hands the first issue of the new NEWSWEEK, and dig it before I even start reading. It seems like the trend in magazines is to get thinner, both in content and page stock. (Times are tough all over.)  This issue is thick and heavy and printed on a high quality, glossy paper, which makes the reading that much more pleasurable (and less likely that my thighs turn into an ink-stained mess when I take the magazine to the beach this weekend).

ALS, The FDA, and a Ticking Clock: ALS is a horrible disease: it promises a slow, undignified death with no real treatment options, but lots of false, straggling hopes that don't pan out in the end. The New York Times has a heartbreaking story about one family's fight to gain access to a drug that might - might - provide their son some relief. First the have to cut through corporate red tape, then government bureaucracy, then doctors reluctant to work with experimental treatments. It's a brutal story - and a long one, so you get a very small, fleeting sense of the panic and frustration the family must have felt as time went on, their son got worse, and the drug remained elusive. (The New York Times).

Six US Swine Flu Deaths:  The death of an assistant principal in Queens marks the first New York State death due to the H1N1 virus. The man worked at one of the schools now shuttered to prevent further spread of the disease. That brings the total number of closed NYC schools up to 11. I wrote earlier that swine flu is not that big of a deal - and I still don't believe it to be - but it  has brought immeasurable changes to at least six families, and serves as an instructive warning for future, more deadly outbreaks. (AP via the LA Times)

Hope For HIV Prevention: Today is HIV vaccine awareness day. Be aware: there is no vaccine for HIV. But researchers in Philadelphia may be closer. They found a way to prevent SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus) in monkeys: by injecting the animals with a genetically-altered antibodies for the disease, instead of trying to get the immune system to create it's own antibodies, they were able to prevent SIV from taking hold. Researchers caution that there's no telling how this treatment will work on humans, and that definitive answers to that question are still up to ten years away. (Philly.com)

The Hair Up There: Last week, Sharon Begley wrote that having an African-American president did not raise minority test scores, despite researcher's hope that the "the powerful effect of in-group role models" would impact academic performance. No telling whether this kid will ace his SATs in ten years, but there's definitely something powerful going on here. "President Barack Obama bends over so the son of a White House staff member can pat his head during a family visit to the Oval Office May 8, 2009. The youngster wanted to see if the President's haircut felt like his own." (White House Photostream, h/t to Shakesville)

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza