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Exchanging a Blanket for a Code Blue
In most hospitals, “crash carts” are positioned strategically. They contain a variety of tools and medications that can be used to attempt resuscitation on a patient whose heart has ceased beating...
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The Most Influential Scientist You May Never Have Heard Of
Gaze at Alexander von Humboldt’s 1814 self-portrait and you peer into the eyes of a man who sought to see and understand everything. By this point in his life, at age 45, Humboldt had tutored himself...
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Andreas Vesalius: The Man Who Revolutionized Our Knowledge of the Human Body
December 31, 2014 marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of one of the most important figures in the history of medicine. He authored one of the most elegant and influential books in scientific...
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Tolkien and the Machine
My grandfather was a carpenter, and I don’t think he ever developed much of a sense of trust in machines. I remember him laboring away at our home one summer, transforming our screened-in porch into a...
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What Do You Want (Really, Really Want) Out of Your College Education?
The value of a college education has received a great deal of attention lately. There is little doubt that going to college offers a substantial economic payoff. On average, college graduates earn...
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The Universe’s Most Miraculous Molecule
It’s the second most abundant substance in the universe. It dissolves more materials than any other solvent. It stores incredible amounts of energy. Life as we know it would not be possible without it....
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On the 120th Anniversary of the X-ray, a Look at How It Changed Our View of...
Sunday, November 8 marks the 120th anniversary of one of the greatest moments in the history of science: an obscure German physics professor’s discovery of the X-ray. His name was Wilhelm Roentgen, and...
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How Charles Dickens Redeemed the Spirit of Christmas
Though today regarded as the literary titan of the Victorian age, in late 1843 the 31-year-old Charles Dickens worried that his popularity was fading. His latest novel was not selling well, his...
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Can We Curb the Opioid Abuse Epidemic by Rethinking Chronic Pain?
Over the last few decades, medicine has witnessed a sea change in attitudes toward chronic pain, and particularly toward opioids. While these changes were intended to bring relief to many, they have...
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OxyContin: How Purdue Pharma Helped Spark the Opioid Epidemic
What do conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, singer Courtney Love, and deceased actor Heath Ledger all have in common? The answer, according to published reports, is that all battled addiction to...
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Why You Shouldn’t Blame Lying on the Brain
The recent finding that telling lies induces changes in the brain has stimulated a number of misrepresentations that may wreak more harm on our understanding than the lies on which they report. CNN’s...
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Can a Dying Patient Be a Healthy Person?
The news was bad. Mimi, a woman in her early 80s, had been undergoing treatment for lymphoma. Her husband was being treated for bladder cancer. Recently, she developed chest pain, and a biopsy showed...
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