Keeping Pace with Humans: Urban Evolution
A select few species evolve fast enough to keep pace with and survive human impacts.
Betting Seed: How Birds Give in to Gambling
Humans may not be the only animals hypnotized by the chance to win big. New research shows that birds, as well as some other animals, are just as susceptible to going for the jackpot.
Tonsillectomies: No Longer a Routine Solution
By their heyday in 1965, over 1.2 million tonsillectomies were performed in the United States. By 1986, that number fell to a quarter of that. And the decline of this once-popular procedure reflects a much larger revolution in medical practice.
A Visit to the Autopsy Suite
In a time when many hospitals have given up their autopsy services to save money, Dr. Stone continues to grow the Massachusetts General Hospital autopsy suite.
Epigenetics in the Fight Against Cancer
Researchers use epigenetics to develop cancer therapy drugs and explore the idea of a cancer “on-off” switch
A Hospital Lab that Never Sleeps
Even as automated technology, like a “lab on a chip,” threatens the efficacy of fully-staffed hospital labs like the one at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the medical technologists who run the labs continue their 24/7 work behind the scenes.
Brain Imaging Techniques Provide Answers About Vegetative Patients
Scientists are testing a variety of brain imaging techniques on unconscious patients in hopes of learning more about their diagnosis. The technologies are helping researchers make more accurate predictions about who is likely to regain consciousness.
Learning to Feel With Light
A new sensor out of MIT is giving robotic claws the ability to ‘feel’ what they’re holding using lights and cameras.
Child Care Is Expensive for Sea Otter Mothers
Maternal life can be a trying time for sea otters. Sea otter mothers risk their lives to raise pups, nearly doubling their energy expenditure when caring for babies.
So you want to be a stool donor? – Infographic
While doctors treat most clostridium difficile gut infections with repeat rounds of antibiotics, stubborn cases call for unconventional treatment–fecal matter transplant. OpenBiome of Medford, Mass, is collecting stool donations from prescreened donors and sending them to hospitals across the country.