Advocacy groups can play a vital role in advancing treatment of a disease, but a small but vocal group of parents of children with autism …
Month: October 2009
Using E. coli as an engine
First they conscripted E. coli into computations; now scientists have coaxed the bacteria into pushing on the teeth of a tiny crankshaft. The Physics arXiv …
School nutrition standards come into the 21st century
Although the federal government updates the Dietary Guidelines for Americans every five years, shockingly the nutritional standards behind the National Lunch Program and School Breakfast …
Battling PTSD
As Krista points out, Austin, Texas saw a temporary bump in its population of science writers during the past few days. Being a newly minted …
Twitterpated science writers?
The combined annual meeting of the National Association of Science Writers and the New Horizons in Science conference (sponsored by the Council for the Advancement …
Wired tackles the vaccine controversy
This week in Wired magazine, Amy Wallace attempts to inject some science into the controversy over vaccines and autism. She also gives her readers a …
The trouble with the thumb
My oldest daughter is a thumb-sucker. It never really bothered me or my husband, and neither her physician or dentist (surprisingly) have expressed great concern …
Monitoring patient wellness from a distance
More and more studies are proving telemedicine is effective in helping patients modify their lifestyle to manage health conditions. Telephone counseling combined with home-based blood …
A math myth exposed
Seems the notion that genetically speaking boys are better than girls in math is a myth. Stanford biologist Robert Sapolsky, PhD, writes in a column …
An insider's view of health care reform
Philip Pizzo, MD, dean of the Stanford School of Medicine, says in a recent Q&A that inaction on health care reform is simply not an …
Aescupalian snake?
Year: 1980 Setting: Corporate clinic in Edea, Cameroon Position: Resident physician On some of my professional gear, one can find the medical symbol with the …
Heart transplant patient remains an athlete
Joe Matthews, or "English Joe" as he likes to be known, has one of those inspirational medical stories. A heart transplant patient at Stanford Hospital …
Learning about lupus
Like more than 14 million other Americans, I have an autoimmune disease - and I'm always interested in hearing what scientists uncover about these mysterious …
The NIH's Francis Collins' to do list
Francis Collins has been the director of the NIH for nearly two months. Yet he’s already punched a number of his accomplishments on a twenty …
Making the healthy choice a fun choice
In an experiment to encourage people to take the stairs rather than the escalator, Volkswagen Sweden and ad agency DDB Stockholm transformed subway station stairs …
Smoking bans reduce heart attack rates
Anti-smoking laws passed during the past two decades by more than 70 percent of the country are effective in saving lives, according to a new …