Ask the Experts

I’m a native Californian whose childhood international travels took me to some of the farthest corners of the world. My dad has been an environmentalist and geological researcher most of his life. That career choice rubbed off on me and now I’m the studying environmental science myself. As a freshman, I don’t have too much academic experience under my belt yet, but I definitely know more than your average young adult, given how much exposure to the sciences I had growing up.

I’ve been in and out of doctors’ offices a lot lately, thanks to some ongoing health issues that I won’t go into. I’ve been really frustrated with the results I’ve been seeing, and I’ve pointed out to one of my doctors that I really don’t feel he’s been helping. He came back at me with some criticism of my diet and lifestyle, as if me being sick was my fault (I know some diseases can be caused by bad habits, but my condition is not one of them). I’m upset with the relationship I have with my doctor right now, and I’m even thinking about suing. Where is the line when it comes to malpractice? If I am not getting better, isn’t my doctor responsible?

I’m planning a trip for a group of my friends. We’re all fun people, but we all have a bit of an anxious side. We’re perfectionists--and maybe we’re kind of worrywarts, too.

I’m a pretty conservative person, but I’m also a person who loves nature and the outdoors. That can leave me kind of conflicted sometimes when I think about the future of our planet. What scares me is the idea that companies aren’t designed to care about the planet--they’re designed to make money (and I think they should be). But that means they don’t really have any reason to pay extra to recycle, and things like that. I know the government steps in and tries to make things better by doing things with laws and taxes and stuff, but I’m not sure I agree with that. But I guess it’s the only way--though I’d rather not just be guessing, so that’s why I’m asking the experts. Can profits and the planet coexist?

I have a friend here who wants to become a plastic surgeon one day. Not just a doctor--she specifically wants to be a plastic surgeon. I really don’t understand it, because I really don’t like the idea of people changing their appearance with surgery. It seems to me that people are being pressured to have cosmetic surgery by the society we live in, which puts too much value on our appearances.

My little nephew means the world to me, and he’s at what should be a really exciting and innocent time in his life. He’s just starting kindergarten. Unfortunately, some kids in his class have been really mean to him. I have no idea why, or why his kindergarten teacher can’t see to control a group of kids that is so young, but my brother and his wife say my nephew has no friends and sometimes cries and asks them not to send him to school anymore. He’s all alone (he has no brothers or sisters), and it makes me so sad. I know it’s not my place, but what can I do to help?

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I’ve never followed politics that closely, so I’m not super familiar with the stuff that is happening related to taxes right now. But even if I were to research it, I’m not sure I’d understand it. To be honest, I never understood how taxes got to be so complicated. Why are there deductions and loopholes? Why is this so complicated--why not just take a fair percentage of everyone’s income, not allow any exemptions and tax breaks, and just leave it at that? I know you guys don’t get political, but I was hoping the experts could give me some background on this.

My little brother has a job he hates: he works in retail back in our hometown, and he’s exhausted all of the time. But, for some reason, he’s really convinced that he doesn’t want to go to college. I guess that’s okay, and my parents seem to have accepted it, but I’m really worried. Without an education, I’m afraid my brother is doomed to spend his whole life working this job he absolutely hates. Why would he do this to himself? Do you have any advice for him--or for me, so that I can talk to him and try to help him see a path forward?

I have some friends who are studying computer science in college, and a lot of them have become really interested in artificial intelligence. I’m interested, too, and though I really don’t have the same background (I’m an English major, myself), we’ve been having some really interesting conversations about where artificial intelligence is going in the future. Among other things, we’ve been discussing the dangers of A.I. My friends tend to think it’s pretty safe stuff, but I’m a little wary of how much power we’re willing to give machines. I know that “computers take over” is some really sci-fi stuff, but is it nonsense? Am I crazy for thinking that there’s a dangerous side to A.I.?

My grandparents on my mother’s side were always the wealthy ones in the family. Don’t get me wrong, none of us have ever wanted for anything, but it was always clear that my mother’s side of the family was more comfortable. But they were the sort of people who wanted their kids to make their own way, so my mother didn’t see much of that money until both of my grandparents passed away.

My parents have worked hard for their money, and they’ve been very generous to me. So I don’t like second-guessing what my parents choose to do with what they’ve earned--but, lately, I’ve been pretty concerned.

I’m nearing the end of my college career (unfortunately!) and before I know it, I’m going to be out in the working world. I know that I need to save for retirement, and I know that I should invest money in order to do that. But, to be honest, I’m really wary of getting into the market. Correct me if I’m wrong here: investing is about buying stocks and hoping that they go up. If they go up, you get more money. If they go down, you lose money.

I was reading about the Flint water crisis and all of its fallout, and it made me realize that I take a lot for granted about the way that my water works--and that makes me nervous. I spend plenty of time in and around water, swimming in the ocean and pools, showering and, of course, drinking… when am I at risk? What makes water unhealthy? If something goes wrong with my water supply, will I know right away?

I live off-campus in a house that my family owns. That puts me in a kind of weird position, because my roommates are paying my family rent, and I feel like I’m responsible for some of the stuff that a landlord would usually do. So I’m feeling pretty bad right around now, because our place is just too cold.

I’ve been lucky: nobody in my family has cancer. But my friends throughout life have not been so lucky, and I’ve seen them lose people--including parents that I was close to, too--to different types of cancers. So while I haven’t always followed cancer research closely, I’ve cared about the issue for a long time and donate to cancer research when I can afford to.

It’s hard to stay skinny over the holidays. My friends and I know it, and we are all trying our best to keep the weight off, or at least come up with a plan to lose the extra pounds once the new year rolls around! But I’m concerned about one of my friends, a girl from my hometown who I’m afraid is taking this too far. She diets obsessively and tends to get even more intense around this time of year. She even tries diet pills, which I don’t trust. How can I tell if her behavior is unsafe? What should I do if I think it is?

My friends and I get together for movie night pretty often. One friend always hosts, because he always seems to have access to whatever movie we want to watch. Sometimes that means something in his Blu-Ray collection and sometimes it means Netflix or Hulu. But other times it means using services that look pretty sketchy to me. I hate to be the killjoy, but I’m kind of uncomfortable with the idea that we might be stealing movies for our movie nights. I know movie stars have plenty of money, but they worked hard to make their films, and it’s not up to us to decide we can just take them for free. I’m nervous about talking to me friend about this, though, because I don’t want to insult him. Can you help me?