[Many drugs are prescribed outside their official recommendations, she says. Neurontin, for example, was initially approved only for epilepsy. But, read more

[Many drugs are prescribed outside their official recommendations, she says. Neurontin, for example, was initially approved only for epilepsy. But, after a slow start, it grew to become a $US2.3 billion ($3 billion today) blockbuster for its owner, Pfizer, in 2003.] About 80 per cent of the prescriptions were for unapproved uses - conditions like bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia, restless legs syndrome, hot flashes, migraines and tension headaches, ... In fact, Neurontin has become a sort of all-purpose restorative for chronic discomfort of almost any type - yet there is almost no good published evidence that it works.

When you grow up your mother says, 'Wear rubbers or you'll catch cold.' When you become an adult you discover read more

When you grow up your mother says, 'Wear rubbers or you'll catch cold.' When you become an adult you discover that you have the right not to wear rubbers and to see if you catch cold or not. It's something like that.

Today, our greatest public policy concerns know no borders, ... A global network of public policy schools offers the best read more

Today, our greatest public policy concerns know no borders, ... A global network of public policy schools offers the best opportunity for the academic community to work collectively on multiple intertwined challenges -- from sustainable development to trade to terrorism to public health crises to the protection of human rights worldwide -- and to prepare some of the world's most able graduate students to assume global leadership roles in the coming decades.

Only those who attempt the absurd...will achieve the impossible. I think...I think it's in my basement...Let me go upstairs and read more

Only those who attempt the absurd...will achieve the impossible. I think...I think it's in my basement...Let me go upstairs and check.

This is the greatest damage to and loss of cultural institutions and cultural patrimony in the history of the country.

This is the greatest damage to and loss of cultural institutions and cultural patrimony in the history of the country.

It's prudent to take every precaution you can.

It's prudent to take every precaution you can.

I've never been convinced that the number of available hands is all that is important, however.

I've never been convinced that the number of available hands is all that is important, however.

Disney made a fortune out of inventing the businessman's idea of the imaginary as the contradictory of the businessman's idea read more

Disney made a fortune out of inventing the businessman's idea of the imaginary as the contradictory of the businessman's idea of the real.

Hopefully I'll be up here again in a better position in the coming years.

Hopefully I'll be up here again in a better position in the coming years.