Reading Time: 16 minutes “At ten months old, we were told he would need a heart transplant. There was no cure for his condition, so we would have to go to Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital at some point. If they had a bed. And a heart. And agreed to the procedure.” Great Ormond Street, the famous children’s hospital […]
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Posted inSpace
The death of Arecibo
Reading Time: 4 minutes In 2007, I saw the Arecibo Observatory for the first and last time. I was in Puerto Rico on a family vacation, and despite a packed schedule, I had to carve out time to see it. The town of Arecibo is a considerable drive from San Juan, where I was staying, and the observatory itself […]
Posted inHealth
Narrative medicine: Why stories matter in healthcare
Reading Time: 5 minutes There was a low rumble in the room. I couldn’t hear what anyone was saying above the din, but I feel the excitement in my body even now as my memory-neurons fire. This new batch of future doctors was about to enter terrain more daunting than the fundamentals of pharmacology: They would read a poem […]
Posted inScience
Could an Epstein-Barr virus vaccine end Multiple Sclerosis?
Reading Time: 5 minutes I have primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS). And it sucks. Multiple sclerosis isn’t just my problem. Indeed, some 2.8 million worldwide, 1 million in the US, and 130,000 in the United Kingdom suffer from the condition. It is a condition that comes in different forms (most people have an up-and-down version called relapsing-remitting—RRMS) and afflicts […]
Posted inScience
Science lets us tell better stories
Reading Time: 5 minutes Ancient myths and rituals were humanity’s first, fumbling attempt at understanding the world. But now we can tell the true stories.
Posted inPolitics
What’s behind conservative opposition to masks, vaccines, and lockdowns?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Fox News host Jesse Watters made headlines when he used violent language to denounce Dr. Anthony Fauci at a conservative conference. “Now you go in for the kill shot. The kill shot? With an ambush? Deadly. Because he doesn’t see it coming,” Watters said. Watters claimed that he was using a metaphor and wasn’t advocating […]