Humans

"The goal of me as a cancer doctor is not to understand cancer ... the goal is to control cancer," says Dr. David Agus.

Is Our Narrow Focus On Cancer Doing More Harm Than Good?

9:36am July 31, 2015

by NPR/TED Staff

Dr. David Agus believes that current research is too narrowly focused on the specifics of cancer. Instead, he thinks broader, more interdisciplinary methods are needed to control and treat it.

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Healthy diets help prevent, even reverse, some health conditions. Dr. Dean Ornish believes it can also do the same for cancer.

Can Healthy Eating Reverse Some Cancers?

9:36am July 31, 2015

by NPR/TED Staff

Dr. Dean Ornish studied how lifestyle changes could help people with chronic heart disease; he wanted to figure out if there was a way to do the same with some types of cancer.

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Even if you don't speak their language, you can likely communicate with these musicians through song and dance: Men from Papua New Guinea; Wiz Khalifa at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards; and Japanese dancers at the Daihanya Festival in Kagoshima City.

From Pygmy Hunting Songs To Taylor Swift, What Makes Music Universal

2:29pm July 30, 2015

by Michaeleen Doucleff

Can you hear what's similar about a Palestinian line dance and Swift's "Shake It Off"? Or The Sound of Music's "Do-Re-Mi" and a Pygmy song? Scientists have finally decoded the language of music.

A Yale University study analyzed the experience of 60 million Americans covered by traditional Medicare between 1999 and 2013, and found "jaw-dropping improvements in almost every area," the lead author says.

Happy 50th Birthday, Medicare. Your Patients Are Getting Healthier

8:49am July 30, 2015

by Richard Harris

The past 15 years have seen a drop in deaths and hospitalizations among Medicare patients — people 65 and older. Teasing out why is tricky, but it seems a good trend for the 50-year-old program.

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Anil Ananthaswamy is a consultant for New Scientist Magazine.

A Sense Of Self: What Happens When Your Brain Says You Don't Exist

8:49am July 30, 2015

In his new book, The Man Who Wasn't There, Anil Ananthaswamy examines the ways people think of themselves — and how those perceptions can be distorted by certain brain conditions.

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The teeth and mandibles of four male skeletons unearthed in Jamestown, Virginia, now reside in Washington, D.C., at the Smithsonian's museum of natural history. Researchers believe they've now puzzled out the identities of the men: high-status leaders fro

Bones In Church Ruins Likely The Remains Of Early Jamestown's Elite

7:22pm July 29, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

Scientists say remains of four men exhumed from what was once an Anglican church suggest they were well-nourished, "high-status" leaders in the early 17th century colony. And one was likely Catholic.

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"It now pays to get a lot of pleasure out of a little bit of sugar," says Danielle Reed, a scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

The Gene For Sweet: Why We Don't All Taste Sugar The Same Way

7:00pm July 29, 2015

by Eliza Barclay

We know that a gene can determine how strongly we experience bitter flavors. Scientists wanted to know if this was also true for sweet. Their study shows genetics may affect our taste for sugar, too.

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California Health Insurance Exchange Keeps Rate Hikes Low — Again

8:04pm July 27, 2015

Monthly premiums for health insurance plans in the Covered California marketplace will increase by an average of 4 percent for 2016. The price for some plans will drop.

Christy O'Donnell, who has advanced lung cancer, is one of several California patients suing for the right to get a doctor's help with prescription medicine to end their own lives if and when they feel that's necessary.

California Judge Throws Out Lawsuit On Medically Assisted Suicide

5:35pm July 27, 2015

by April Dembosky

The superior court judge says questions raised in the case should be decided by legislatures or voters, not the court. The terminally ill plaintiffs say they'll appeal his decision.

Amid Lingering Skepticism, A Primer On What Bland's Autopsy Can Tell Us

7:42pm July 25, 2015

Medical examiner Dr. Judy Melinek explains what forensic examiners saw in the autopsy of Sandra Bland, who was found dead in a Texas jail.

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