Headaches: More Than You Think
Headaches affect far more lives far more severely than most people realize. A sufferer and an expert physician discuss headaches and their treatment.
The Language of Addiction: Why words matter
Addiction specialists are seeking to change the words we use to describe addictive behaviors, as they’ve learned the wrong language creates stigma and drives people away from treatment. Experts discuss the problem and solutions.
The Mind of a Musician
Music is more than a fun pastime. Studies show that especially in children, studying music rewires the brain in beneficial ways, giving them an advantage in other cognitive skills. The scientist who’s done much of this pioneering work discusses its ramifications and impact.
An Odd But Common Fear: Trypophobia, the fear of clustered holes
As much as 16 percent of the population suffers from trypophobia, which makes them uneasy at the sight of holes clustered together, as in a honeycomb. Two experts and a sufferer discuss this phobia, which can be remarkably debilitating.
Why We Don’t Stop Preventable Heart Attacks
Heart disease is often preventable, but how people look at it often keeps them from doing as much about it as they could. Often this is a result of myth and misinformation. An expert physician discusses some of the most harmful of these myths.
Nail Biting
Nail biting is an extremely common habit, but some people bite their nails so badly and so often that they suffer damage to their hands. Experts discuss why so many of us are driven to bite our nails, what can be done to stop it, and the damage that can occur when we can’t stop.
3D Printing of Replacement Organs
Scientists are developing 3D printing technology using human cells to build human organs. The technique could be used to grow organs for transplant, relieving the long waitlist. Experts discuss.
The Difficult-To-Follow Plant-Based Anti-Heart Disease Diet
Heart disease is the number one killer in the US, but a well known cardiologist says if everyone would follow a plant-based, oil-free diet, heart disease could be eradicated. Yet many cardiologists won’t prescribe such a diet, fearing it’s so difficult to follow that it’s a prescription for defeat.
“Nursemaid’s Elbow”
Swinging small children around by their arms may be fun, but it can lead to a very common injury, “nursemaid’s elbow,” an elbow dislocation, and each instance makes the next more likely. Physicians who treat it—and have experienced it in their own children—discuss the injury, its treatment and prevention.
The Danger of Symptom Searching on the Internet (2021)
One of the most popular searches on Google is for symptoms and what they mean. It’s created a much more well informed patient population, but one that may panic at the least pain or discomfort.
Synesthesia: The Color of Sounds and Other Strange Perceptions
Some people have an unusual merging of senses, where they routinely see colors in sounds or numbers, see time visually, or have other perception differences. Artists sometimes have synesthesia, and researchers are beginning to study it to see how it might be tapped to help the rest of us. Experts explain.
Sometimes Not Man’s Best Friend: Dog Bites (2021)
An expert who has studied dog bites discusses the reality of breed temperament, especially when children are around, how to prevent bites, and whether breeds with dangerous reputations deserve them.
Elderly Injuries
A new study shows that people over age 70 are three times more likely than younger people to die when they fall. Older people also take more medications with a fall risk, and which pose a risk themselves when someone taking them falls. Experts discuss these complications and why it’s important to prevent falls and other injuries.
Poor and Rural Kids in Crisis
A study by Save the Children shows on a county-by-county basis that children in poor and rural counties, especially in the south, are much less likely to survive into adulthood, and when they do, they’re often forced to become adults too soon by poverty, pregnancy, and lack of education. A Save the Children expert discusses factors that hurt children and ways they might be alleviated.