Anyone who has ever eaten a rancid food-truck taco has a gut-level feeling for what it’s like to have the human immune system launch a …
Month: February 2013
Scope will return tomorrow
Our offices are closed for Presidents Day; we'll resume our regular publication schedule tomorrow. Photo by ConspiracyofHappiness
Image of the Week: 3D rendering of zebrafish larva cartilage
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new imaging system capable of rapidly producing three-dimensional renderings of thousands of zebrafish larvae and …
Grand Roundup: Top posts for the week of Feb. 10
The five most-read stories on Scope this week were: Image of the Week: Glass sculpture of an HIV virus: Artist Luke Jerram has created a …
Science writing that's fun to read
If you need to spice up your day with some reading suggestions, Annalee Newitz, PhD, editor-in-chief of the science (and science fiction) blog io9 has …
Abraham Verghese discusses reconnecting to the patient at the bedside
In his latest podcast on the Heart.org radio, Robert Harrington, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine, talks with Stanford physician and best-selling author Abraham Verghese, MD, about the humanistic …
Promoting the use of IUDs in the developing world
IUDs, despite being safe, effective and relatively inexpensive, aren't widely embraced by women in the developing world. There are likely several reasons why, including, as …
Scientist pens love letter to stem cells, calls them "irresistible"
Very cute, and perfectly appropriate for Valentine's Day: a love letter to stem cells. Previously: Nobel Prize-netting iPS-cell discovery was initially a tough sell (for …
Transforming personalized medicine into the new standard of care
There's an interesting piece in Wired today about how shifts in the genomics industry could ultimately result in the "emergence of personalized medicine as the …
The road to diagnosis: How to be insistent, persistent and consistent
We’ve partnered with Inspire, a company that builds and manages online support communities for patients and caregivers, to launch a patient-focused series here on Scope. …
Hormone therapy halts accelerated biological aging seen in women with Alzheimer's genetic risk factor
Estrogen-based hormone therapy has had its ups and downs. In 2002, one arm of the Women's Health Initiative, a large-scale longitudinal trial of women examining hormone …
Should medical schools look at a prospective student's "digital footprint?"
In a recent survey of medical schools, a small percentage reported using social-media activity to evaluate applicants. In his most recent column on the AAMC's blog, Wing of …
Exploring empathy and altruism in the animal world
Back in 2011, a study (subscription required) showing how a group of lab rats repeatedly freed their trapped friends (often even choosing to do so …
How can physicians manage their online persona? KevinMD offers guidance
Kevin Pho, MD, an internal medicine physician who founded and writes for the extremely popular blog KevinMD (and regularly tweets), is well-positioned to talk with …
Study: Parents may not be as sleep-deprived as they think
New research out of the University of Madison-Wisconsin may fall on deaf ears – specifically parents’ ears. The study, published in American Journal of Epidemiology, …
Stanford geneticist talks tracking biological data points and personalized medicine
Nearly a year ago, Stanford geneticist Michael Snyder, PhD, and colleagues published an analysis of some of his body’s most intimate secrets: the sequence of …