Fat-shaming is as ineffective as it is cruel. The bullying tactic also ignores the biological factors underlying obesity, which are not always under a person’s control.
Nearly half of patients with congestive heart failure who are hospitalized and then discharged end up back in the hospital within 90 days. Could a toilet seat help prevent this from occurring?
Stem cells show much promise, both for testing drugs and for treating disease. But the hype around them has been dangerous, as most treatments are in very experimental stages and can cause harm.
How is NASA preparing astronauts for high-stress living on the Moon? Turns out the answer is by living in undersea bases just off the coast of Florida in a lab known as Aquarius Reef Base.
Are more technologically advanced prosthetics and orthotics actually better for improving health? Or do we just think they are better? And most importantly, how do we figure it out?
Tobias Deuse, University of California, San Francisco
The idea behind regenerative medicine is that the patient is both the donor and recipient of healthy tissue grown from stem cells. But sometimes the transplanted cells are rejected. Now we know why.
A woman recently died from Legionnaires’ disease at an Atlanta hotel. Why? The cause is known and the disease is largely preventable. Yet the number of cases in the US continue to rise.
Almost all drugs are tested in living animals before human clinical trials. But most of the time what works in mice doesn’t work in humans. That’s why lab-grown human livers may be so valuable.
Many articles describe the rise of superbugs - bacteria that are resistant to antibiotic drugs - as inevitable. But society has the knowledge to stop the spread of these microbes.
What happens when babies are born critically ill and the doctors have no idea what is wrong? Some argue that a controversial tool called whole genome sequencing may help find the cause.
Charles Chiu, University of California, San Francisco
Superfast DNA analysis is now being used to crack medical mysteries when physicians can’t figure out whether an infectious microbe is causing the disease.
Only one Canadian discovery has brought home a Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. But, like winning another Stanley Cup, Canadians should not give up hope.
Analysis of 228,000 comments shows that while surgeons are likely to be called ‘outstanding’ and ‘brilliant’, receptionists are branded ‘arrogant’ and ‘rude’. But it’s not because they do a bad job.
SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne