When a sore throat and sinus congestion warrant a visit to the doctor, your physician will attempt to determine whether a cold virus or bacterial infection is to blame—oftentimes without success. So, just to be safe, they might write a potentially unnecessary script for an antibiotic.
But what if a nurse could swipe your saliva and run a quick genetic test for bacteria? If the test results are negative, you get a prescription for a decongestant and orders to get some rest, rather than con ...read more
The impact of clean-burning stoves on global health.
We tend to take our modern gas and electric stoves and ovens for granted, but in many countries, homes have only kerosene or solid-fuel cooking stoves, which can pollute household air. Each year, more than 4 million people die globally of complications from inhaling smoke from these stoves. In a study on the risks, researchers found that clean ethanol-burning stoves are healthier than traditional units. They monitored 324 healthy pregnant ...read more
In His Own Words ...
It’s the summer after my first year of graduate school, and I’m with a pilot, a sub tech and two deep-sea biologists. One is Craig Young, now the director of the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, and the other is Paul Tyler. And Paul Tyler literally wrote the book on deep-sea biology. It’s literally called Deep-Sea Biology. These guys, in my field, are famous. So not only is it my first research trip and my first submersible dive, I’m with two peopl ...read more
