The five most-read stories this month on Scope were: Eating for good blood: Tips for boosting iron levels and hemoglobin: This entry discusses hemoglobin levels …
Month: January 2015
This is your brain on meditation
For years, friends have been telling me I should try meditation. I’m embarrassed to admit it’s mostly because of (how can I put this delicately?) …
New test could lead to increase of women diagnosed with heart attack
Similar numbers of men and women come to the emergency room complaining of chest pain, and similar numbers of men and women die from heart …
Building bodies, one organ at a time
If you’ve been to a geek or tech event like the annual Maker Faire that happens every spring here in the Bay Area, you’ve probably …
Big data used to help identify patients at risk of deadly high-cholesterol disorder
Familial hypercholesterolemia is not exactly a catchy name. But Stanford cardiologist Josh Knowles, MD, is determined to make it easier to remember. This little known, …
With a Gates Foundation grant, Stanford launches major effort to expedite vaccine discovery
The vaccine field got a major boost today with the announcement that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will invest $50 million in a new …
Basic research underlies effort to thwart “greatest threat to face humanity”
Welcome to this week's Biomed Bites, a weekly feature that introduces readers to Stanford's most innovative researchers. Stanley Cohen, MD, isn't a household name. But …
Is honey the new antibiotic?
...Well, not quite. But recent research shows that honey does have infection-fighting properties surprisingly similar to the common antibiotic ampicillin. And even more importantly, honey …
Discussing the American Academy of Pediatrics’ call to put the brakes on marijuana legalization
A wave of changes in state laws on the use of marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes has stirred the American Academy of Pediatrics. It's …
Mindfulness and the fourth- and fifth-grade brain
As a parent, this Time headline immediately grabbed my attention: "Mindfulness Exercises Improve Kids Math Scores." But as I read the article, I learned that math scores …
The downside of a free lunch: Incentives and the medical student
SMS (“Stanford Medical School”) Unplugged is a forum for students to chronicle their experiences in medical school. The student-penned entries appear on Scope once a …
Why establishing a health baseline is a “critical starting point for achieving future health goals”
Raise your hand if you want to be more successful at achieving health goals, such as losing weight or lowering your cholesterol levels, and maintaining …
Can science journals have beautiful prose?
Scientific journals are not known for being scintillating or inspiring reading. But could they be? A recent article in Nature elaborated on an online discussion …
“This reinforced why I went into nursing”: The story of two nurses who resuscitated plane passenger
Stanford Health Care cardiac nurse coordinators Angela Bingham, RN, MSN, CNL, and Sophia Loo, RN, MSHCA, have cared for hundreds of patients with serious heart …
A look at our disappearing microbes
Could obesity, asthma, allergies, diabetes, and certain forms of cancer all share a common epidemiological origin? NYU microbiologist Martin Blaser, MD, thinks so – he …
Hope for the globby thing inside our skulls
While at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, neuroscientists Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, and Amit Etkin, MD, PhD, had a webcast conversation with NPR …