The Quiet Scientific Revolution That May Solve Chronic PainChronic pain is both one of the world’s most costly medical problems, affecting one in every five people, and one of the most mysterious. In the past two decades, however, discoveries about the crucial role played by glia — a set of nervous system… Nov 09 21November 09, 2021Article at New York Times
Part 1: Heritage TestedEarly morning fog settles across Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Photo by Joseph Rossbach / Alamy Twenty years ago, an unprecedented land deal rocked northern New York and New England. The model of shared ownership that emerged changed the way land is… Jun 01 20June 01, 2020Article at Northern Woodlands
Why a ‘Lifesaving’ Depression Treatment Didn’t Pass Clinical TrialsSome medical experiments are more daunting than others. The one that the neurologist Helen Mayberg came up with to test a model of depression she had developed over about 15 years involved drilling two holes in the top of a patient’s skull and… Apr 17 18April 17, 2018Article at The Atlantic
Survival of the Prettiest(“The Evolution of Beauty” by Richard Prum was selected as one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2017. For the rest of the list, click here.) For readers, Charles Darwin, born in 1809, apparently never gets old. Books by Darwin… Sep 18 17September 18, 2017Article at New York Times
The Social Life of GenesA few years ago, Gene Robinson, of Urbana, Illinois, asked some associates in southern Mexico to help him kidnap some 1,000 newborns. For their victims they chose bees. Half were European honeybees, Apis mellifera ligustica, the sweet-tempered kind… Jun 14 17June 14, 2017Article at Pacific Standard
The Smartphone PsychiatristFrustrated by the failures in his field, Tom Insel, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, is now trying to reduce the world’s anguish through the devices in people’s pockets. Sometime around 2010, about two-thirds of the way… Jun 13 17June 13, 2017Article at The Atlantic
Why There’s New Hope About Ending BlindnessFrom the day Christian Guardino was born, his mother, Elizabeth, knew that something was wrong with his eyes. They would jiggle and jerk and roll up into his head. One eye turned inward. When she fed him, instead of gazing up at her, Christian would… Sep 01 16September 01, 2016Article at National Geographic
‘Galileo’s Middle Finger,’ by Alice Dreger“Soon enough,” Alice Dreger writes at the beginning of her romp of a book, “I will get to the death threats, the sex charges, the alleged genocides, the epidemics, the alien abductees, the anti-lesbian drug, the unethical ethicists, the fight with… Apr 17 15April 17, 2015Article at New York Times
Christine Kenneally’s ‘Invisible History of the Human Race’Of Christine Kenneally’s father’s father — a man neither Kenneally nor her father ever knew, a man who did the deed requisite to reproduction and promptly vanished — she asks, “Did he leave anything more significant than the loud bang of a door shut… Oct 16 14October 16, 2014Article at New York Times
The Fault in Our DNAIn his 2007 book “A Farewell to Alms,” the economic historian Gregory Clark argued that the English came to rule the world largely because their rich outbred their poor, and thus embedded their superior genes and values throughout the nation. In her… Jul 10 14July 10, 2014Article at New York Times
The F.D.A. vs. Personal Genetic TestingThe United States Food and Drug Administration is not known for its prose. So the warning letter that it sent to 23andMe, the direct-to-consumer genetic-testing company, on November 22nd, was a surprise in more ways than one. “It reads like the… Nov 27 13November 27, 2013Article at The New Yorker
The Social Life of GenesA few years ago, Gene Robinson, of Urbana, Illinois, asked some associates in southern Mexico to help him kidnap some 1,000 newborns. For their victims they chose bees. Half were European honeybees, Apis mellifera ligustica, the sweet-tempered kind… Sep 03 13September 03, 2013Article at Pacific Standard
Clues in the Cycle of SuicideOn average, about 700 Americans kill themselves each week — but in the fine-weather weeks of May and June, the toll rises closer to 800, sometimes higher. Every year, suicide peaks with the tulips and lilacs — increasing roughly 15 percent over the… Jun 24 13June 24, 2013Article at New York Times
A Trudge to the Roots of AutismMuch of autism’s mystery and fascination lies in a paradox: On one hand, autism seems to create a profound disconnect between inner and outer lives; on the other, it generates what the neuroscientist Oliver Sacks calls an essential and “most… May 13 13May 13, 2013Article at New York Times
How to Place Rose Petals on Your Lover's Skin (& Write About Science)*The Guardian and the Wellcome Trust have been holding a science-writing prize contest lately, and to accompany it The Guardian has been running a superb series of interviews with science writers about how to write about science. Geoff Brumfiel,… Apr 24 13April 24, 2013Article at Wired
David Dobbs on science writing: 'hunt down jargon and kill it'What's a good science story? A good science story is like any other good story: it has tension and movement; it has conflicts the reader can relate to; it's usually about someone who wants something badly and faces obstacles trying to get it. What… Apr 19 13April 19, 2013Article at The Guardian
The Most Dangerous Words in GeneticsProf. Steve Jones: 'Nature or Nurture?' from The Lost Lectures on Vimeo. "The most dangerous words in genetics," says geneticist Steve Jones, "are 'the gene for.' It's just one pithy and wise insight in a talk stuffed with them — an essential warning… Apr 01 13April 01, 2013Article at Wired
Pandemics P*rn - Great Reads About Nasty BugsNote: This post first appeared at Slate this past December 28, where it came at the end of a fine series on Pandemics; it seeks to direct you to the best reading and tweeting about the bugs out to kill us. Other Pandemic series highlights included… Jan 16 13January 16, 2013Article at Wired
The Case for Selective Paternalism in Genetic Testing*Last week, in Embrace Your Dangerous Genome, I argued (following Virginia Hughes' Slate article) that we should press for more openness and less worry about people receiving their genomic information. In my focus on making that point I failed to… Jan 14 13January 14, 2013Article at Wired
Genotyping Adam Lanza Is a Lousy IdeaWhen I first heard that the medical examiner for the Sandy Hook shooting had asked for a genetic profile of the apparent shooter, Adam Lanza, I suggested on Twitter that this would end badly: The results will almost certainly be close to meaningless,… Jan 10 13January 10, 2013Article at Wired
