For all the progress the field of neuroscience has made in tracking down the underlying pathology of neurodegenerative diseases, the brain remains a largely unexplored organ, composed of …
Month: June 2016
A closer look at a Stanford Children’s Health program that benefits children before surgery
A few months ago, my colleague wrote about a pair of pediatric anesthesiologists with Stanford Children's Health who found a fun and effective way to distract …
“Like the surprise of being stabbed”: Ranking the pain of insect stings
If you want to put your pain in perspective, take time to read any of the 78 descriptions of pain compiled by Justin O. Schmidt, PhD, …
What color is your cloud? Study finds large variability in resident workloads
For decades medical residents have put themselves into two camps: "black clouds" and "white clouds." Black-cloud residents carry with them the bad luck of consistently getting …
Helping bridge the divide between engineers and neuroscientists
I write a lot about the various ways that faculty at Stanford collaborate, often between schools and departments that speak very different academic languages. Those …
Spotlight on homelessness: What medical providers can do
Is homelessness an intractable problem? Not to San Francisco Bay area journalists, who are teaming up today in an unusual cooperative effort to blitz the …
When is our marshmallow? A student wonders when medical training will make a difference
In an oft-cited psychology experiment from the 60’s done at Stanford, toddlers were isolated in a room with a table on which sat a single …
Clear connection between canned food consumption and BPA exposure
The supermarket cans that hold canned peaches, soups, peas, or other foods are nearly always lined with a thin layer of plastic to prevent foods …
In Stanford study, a social exercise app got people moving
Everybody wants to exercise more, but many of us get caught up in day-to-day demands and never get around to it. A profusion of phone …
Yes, you can be both feminine and a scientist – but not everyone thinks that
Good-looking? Feminine? Then people may not think you're a scientist, according to a paper in the journal Sex Roles. As science writer Matt Shipman recently put …
Keeping kids with grown-up diagnoses from falling through the cracks
Once in a while, kids suffer grown-up medical problems such as multiple sclerosis, sleep apnea or stroke. None of these conditions are rare, but the …
Working to improve the health of children in rural Guatemala
Last week, we wrote about a medical student working with Stanford pediatrician Paul Wise, MD, MPH, on a program that uses nutritional supplements and health education …
Healthy researchers, healthy research: Policy scholars embrace running
My dad caught a bad case of the running bug. He started small, but before long, he was running marathons. Might as well run one …
Stanford law expert weighs in on Supreme Court’s abortion ruling
As has been widely reported today, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down parts of a Texas law that would have severely limited access to …
Lasers introduce a new level of accuracy to tumor recognition
For patients like Reuben Hill, the term "laser-focused" has just taken on an entirely new meaning. A doctoral student in physics, Hill is well acquainted …
Exploring the “ridiculously exciting” opportunities for artificial intelligence
Late last week my Twitter and Instagram were blowing up with photos of President Obama, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and entrepreneur/"Shark Tank" star Daymond …