As the Supreme Court is hearing arguments regarding the patentability of human genes, we at The Life Tie Project wanted to add our own voice to this debate and argue why we believe human genes should not be patentable. We further discuss that aside from this particular case, over-patenting in medicine in general by Big Pharma is bad for patients and patient-centric research.
This talk originally appeared on NPR’s TEDRadioHour:
Modern medicine is in danger of losing a powerful, old-fashioned tool: human touch. Physician and writer Abraham Verghese describes our strange new world where patients are merely data points, and calls for a return to the traditional one-on-one physical exam. In our era of the patient-as-data-point, Abraham Verghese believes in the old-fashioned physical exam, the bedside chat, the power of informed observation.
In this TED talk Stacy Kramer explains how her brain tumor diagnosis was a devastating news that gave her a new and more positive perspective on life and daily experiences.
This blog was inspired by a recent article in the New York Times by Michael Moss adapted from “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us,” which will be published by Random House this month.
Today, one in three adults is considered clinically obese, along with one in five kids, and 24 million Americans are afflicted by type 2 diabetes, often caused by poor diet, with another 79 million people having pre-diabetes. Even gout, a painful form of arthritis once known as “the rich man’s disease” for its associations with gluttony, now afflicts eight million Americans.
This blogpost is inspired by a research paper that appeared in the Nature Genetics Magazine titled: Sequencing ancient calcified dental plaque shows changes in oral microbiota with dietary shifts of the Neolithic and Industrial revolutions.
What this research shows is how the farming and industrial revolutions have lead to diets with less diverse probiotics. The implications of this change has been a modern human microbiome that is more prone to disease and infections. The decreasing amount and diversity of probiotics in our bodies allow for more dangerous and unfriendly bacteria to take hold and cause all kinds of short and long term problems including chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases.
Today The New York Times reports that, using data drawn from queries entered into Google, Microsoft and Yahoo search engines, scientists at Microsoft, Stanford and Columbia University have for the first time been able to detect evidence of unreported prescription drug side effects before they were found by the Food and Drug Administration’s warning system.
In the video below Neil deGrasse Tyson dares us to dream a future with more scientific discoveries and possibilities. He also makes a very convincing case for increasing public funding for NASA and other science and research institutions that will train and inspire future scientists, engineers and researchers. He points out that the 850 billion dollar bailout that the banks received from taxpayers in 2008 is more than NASA’s entire 50 year running budget. This is disheartening when comparing what banks have contributed to society versus NASA and the Space Program. Even more frustrating as Tyson also emphasizes is that our politicians today only care about the next election cycle and/or quarterly economic data where great discoveries whether in medicine, technology or engineering require decades of research, funding and trial and error.
This post originally appeared on TEDMED‘s blog by Elaine Waples
Most of us have spent some time thinking about our own deaths. We do it with a sense of dreadful curiosity, but then we push it aside with “well, we’ve all got to go sometime.”
A new brand campaign for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society wants us to imagine a day when cancer is cured. It is a very effective and motivational Advertising Campaign for a cancer charity with its upbeat message.
A new marketing strategy aims to raise funds for charity, minus the obligatory guilt trip gimmick.
The campaign, themed “someday is today” kicks off with a 60-second spot that imagines the day cancer is cured, a day most people will undoubtedly remember forever. Narration is provided by cancer survivor and Dexter star, Michael C. Hall.
Via PSFK.com
