Friday Links – 17 July 2026

Almost every study finds that paper bags are worse than plastic bags for the environment.

British NHS update: The NHS is unable to perform 1.5m operations a year because of a drastic shortage of anesthetists, a report reveals. Over 8 million people—more than one-tenth of the United Kingdom’s population—are on waiting lists to receive health care.

If you are traveling in Europe with a pet, your pet needs a passport.

From 2018 to 2023, the number of direct primary care and concierge practice sites grew by 83.1 percent and the number of clinicians participating in them by 78.4 percent.

Tele-ICU: when doctors were supposed to be monitoring remotely, one patient died.

Sugar is necessary for life, but scientists don’t know how it got here.