Introducing The Atlantic's Health Channel

Welcome to our Health channel, a new section on TheAtlantic.com that, starting today, will be aimed at leading the conversation on health and wellness issues. Too much coverage of these issues falls, we've found, at either end of a wide spectrum: It tends to be either short and simplistic or dense and unreadable. Our intention is to take a critical middle approach in bringing you vital news and analysis that matters to your health and wellbeing -- by cutting through new studies and research to get to the most relevant information, conclusions, and implications; bringing together key experts from a range of fields; and wrapping context around the biggest, most complex stories out there.

It's a broad approach, one that we think will allow us to be both fast and reliable. The six general categories that we're using to organize the channel provide a sense of the stories we'll be tackling: mental health, physical health, nutrition, relationships and sexuality, parenting, and public health.

I should introduce myself. I'm Nicholas Jackson. I'll be the editor of -- and an occasional writer for -- the channel. I've been with The Atlantic for more than a year now, first helping Alexis Madrigal launch our Technology channel, then overseeing the Life channel. Prior to that, I was with Slate and have written for a number of other publications on the Web.

With today's launch, we're introducing a couple of new features -- and reintroducing an existing feature that has proven popular with our readers.

• Vital Signs: Just this past week we learned that 41.4 percent of Froot Loops by weight is pure sugar. We've also learned that 1/3 of all cancers are caused by four common lifestyle factors: tobacco, diet, alcohol, and obesity. Often, the most important takeaway in a health story is the figure. Here, we'll round up the latest numbers from leading science and health journals, news reports, and the Web.
• The Cutting Edge: In partnership with medGadget, a site written and edited exclusively by MDs and biomedical engineers, this daily feature will provide a look at the latest incremental advances in medical technology.
• Study of the Day: Every weekday morning, Hans Villarica uses the format of the classic scientific method -- problem, hypothesis, methodology, conclusion -- to break down a recent medical study and suss out its implications.