Gender was on a lot of minds for a lot of reasons in 2017, which could explain why an article about the gender of minds was Stanford Medicine magazine's top story of 2017. The article, by Bruce Goldman, describes studies of male and female brains finding that there are, in fact, differences. The story now ranks as one of our most-read articles of all time (based on unique pageviews on our website).
Other popular stories covered the gamut, from a profile of "frugal science" dynamo Manu Prakash, PhD, to a searing essay about loving someone who's dying.
Here are our top six for 2017:
-Two minds, by Bruce Goldman, describes research into the inherent differences in male and female brains.
-Wildly frugal, by Kris Newby, profiles a researcher who invents “frugal science” tools, like an origami microscope that costs less than $1.
-A new rhythm, by Ruthann Richter, describes Dance for PD, a program that offers dance classes to people with Parkinson’s disease.
-Art and the eye, by ophthalmologist Michael Marmor, MD, explains how our eyes help us perceive color, including strategies artists use, knowingly or otherwise, to create magical effects.
-Bionic, by Theresa Johnston, tells of progress toward restoring sight via real bionic goggles - special video glasses that send images to a tiny implant behind the retina.
-In the fog of loss is an essay by bestselling author Joyce Maynard about living through a loved one’s painful death from pancreatic cancer.
Illustration by Gérard DuBois for "Two minds" in Stanford Medicine magazine