Health
The Heart
Despite all of the scientific advances in genomic sequencing, genetic testing, and gene editing, science writer Carl Zimmer suggests we lack a rich understanding of what heredity means and how traits travel from one generation to the next. Cultural and environmental conditions have complex and nuanced influences on human biology, personal and family characteristics are not...
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), is the third leading killer in the US, yet it rarely commands the attention paid to #1 heart disease and #2 cancer. As both advocate and patient, Grace Anne Dorney-Koppel is fighting to change that. After being given less than five years to live in 2001, Grace Anne embarked on an ambitious rehab program, and now helps fund pulm...
Health consumers are increasingly using wearable technology to track and analyze their behavior, and social media to exchange experiences with their peers. Ready access to electronic health records and countless medical websites, some reliable and some not, add to the buckets of information within their reach. The result is that doctors no longer call every shot when it co...
What makes two people click? What does it really mean to say, “we have chemistry”? The Atlantic's Olga Khazan talks to biological anthropologist Helen Fisher about the four styles of thought and behavior that Fisher has identified through brain scans (using fMRI) that help explain the biological underpinnings of romantic love, love addiction, adultery, and divorce. Based o...
The Second City and Caring Across Generations have joined forces to develop a unique training program that strengthens the skills of caregivers through improvisational techniques and practices. Discover how it will work in an evening that offers stories, insights, and interactive experiences that reveal the power of collaborative communication. You will participate in exer...
One third of all the food produced in the world today is wasted, enough to feed 3 billion people—a shocking number in a world full of hunger and volatile food prices. In the United States alone, an estimated 40 percent of all the food produced is wasted at the retail and consumer levels. Both consumers and policymakers are taking notice. The White House has committed to...
Organs are in desperately short supply. In the US alone, more than 124,000 people are on transplant waiting lists, and as many as 30 Americans die every day waiting for a donated organ. Trafficking in human body parts and transplant tourism are big business around the world, and “body bazaars” that bring together wealthy organ buyers and impoverished organ sellers are thri...
We are approaching a watershed moment in human history; a time when old people outnumber children and living to 100 is commonplace. There are major challenges associated with this dramatic and sudden increase in life expectancy, yet we must not lose sight of the fact that long life presents unprecedented opportunities. If we use science and technology to solve problems as...