This morning, U.S. district court judge Royce Lamberth dismissed a case that threatened to ban federal funding for all human embryonic stem cell research. At …
Month: July 2011
Exploring the link between addiction and creativity
In response to the recent news about the death of Grammy-winning singer Amy Winehouse, Scientific American recently posted an interesting Q&A with Johns Hopkins University neuroscientist …
Is pureeing the key to getting children to eat their veggies?
I did something recently that I never thought I would do: I tossed a container of mixed-vegetable baby food into a dish I was preparing …
Using philosophy to create a vocabulary of pain
Much like the people at the beginning of this video, I've often had difficulty describing my aches and pains to my doctor. And because pain …
Stanford projects selected as 2011 Saving Lives at Birth Challenge finalists
Two Stanford-developed projects aimed at curbing preventable deaths in newborn babies have been selected as finalists in a contest hosted by Saving Lives at Birth. …
The need to address med students' mental health
Over on KevinMD, a medical student today shares his thoughts on students suffering from depression or other mental illness, and his concerns that medical schools aren't …
New Stanford Hospital team ready to mobilize for disaster relief
When Stanford Hospital staff members volunteered to participate in a relief mission to post-earthquake Haiti last year, they were stunned over the number of deaths that could have …
Stanford Summit @ Medicine 2.0 speaker Howard Rheingold discusses being an e-patient
On January 15, 2010, social media pioneer and Stanford visiting lecturer Howard Rheingold was diagnosed with colon cancer. Rather than retreat from the public eye …
Good advice from Washyourhandsington
I can't believe I missed this earlier given what a huge fan of hand washing I happen to be, but here's another PSA that's actually …
Brain sponge: Stroke treatment may extend time to prevent brain damage
A new study in mice reports that admistering pharmacological doses of a "sponge-like" molecule that occurs naturally in the human body may stave off brain damage from stroke. …
In mice, at least, uninterrupted sleep is critical for memory
Ask any parent of a newborn baby and they'll tell you that interrupted sleep is the pits: It can leave you feeling cranky, weary and in desperate search of …
Should pregnant women use antidepressants?
We've written before about the (growing) use of antidepressants during pregnancy. Today Boston Globe writer Neena Satija tackles the issue, discussing the latest research and highlighting …
Vaccination could eliminate chicken pox-related deaths in the U.S.
Chicken pox is, traditionally, temporarily uncomfortable for kids and troublesome for parents. But in some rare cases, it's much more: Varicella (chicken pox's scientific name) …
A look at how best to care for America’s growing population of cancer survivors
Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the population of cancer survivors in the United States had increased to nearly …
Image of the Week: Synthetic material to revitalize damaged vocal cords.
A team of researchers at Harvard and MIT has developed a polymer gel, pictured above, that mimics the vibrations of human vocal cords. The synthetic, …
Grand Roundup: Top posts for the week of July 17
The five most-read posts on Scope this week were: A beautiful blood clot: A colorized scanning electron micrograph of a blood clot. The image comes …