Opinion | ‘Believe in Your Data and Question Conventional Wisdom’: What We Heard This Week
“Two lessons: believe in your data and question conventional wisdom.” — Stephen Hauser, MD, of the University of California San Francisco, discussing his book, The Face Laughs While the Brain Cries. “You don’t always think a chip can be dangerous.” — Scott Krakower, DO, of Northwell Health in New York, about the ‘One Chip Challenge’ […]
Starch discovery reaps benefits for brewing, baking and milling industries
Research has brought clarity to the longstanding question of how starch granules form in the seeds of Triticeae crops — wheat, barley, and rye — unlocking diverse potential benefits for numerous industries and for human health. Starch in wheat, maize, rice and potatoes is a vital energy-giving part of our diet and a key ingredient […]
Data researchers connect diet to changes in the microbiome
“Should I be taking a probiotic?” is a question that Maggie Stanislawski, PhD, assistant professor in the University of Colorado Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI), gets asked often. The answer is complicated. Every person’s gut microbiome is unique, and many probiotic supplements sold in grocery stores may not effectively bolster gut health for everyone, she […]
Opinion | Nobody Wants This Job. Should Physicians Stick Around?
As I enter the patient exam room, the first question is no longer, “When can I get my COVID-19 vaccine?” but rather, “Are you leaving? My old doctor left. You are my fifth doctor in 3 years. What is happening?” Nowadays, I spend more time educating patients about the visible cracks our medical system flaunts. […]
Leptin helps hungry mice choose sex over food
To eat or to mate — that is the question (and the answer is: moderately hungry mice choose to mate). Researchers publishing in the journal Cell Metabolism on Thursday February 23 show that hungry mice prioritize interacting with members of the opposite sex over eating and drinking when their brains are stimulated with leptin, an […]
Was I Conned by a ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Writer?
Was I conned by a writer for “Grey’s Anatomy”? Now, there’s a question I never thought I’d ask myself. This strange saga started in early 2018, when I was doing research for a book about bias in women’s healthcare. A commercial for an upcoming episode of the long-running ABC medical drama piqued my curiosity because […]
Most people think their diet is healthier than it is: U.S. adults commonly overestimate the quality of their diet, study shows
How healthy is your diet? It seems like a simple question, but according to a new study, it’s one that most Americans struggle to get right. “We found that only a small percentage of U.S. adults can accurately assess the healthfulness of their diet, and interestingly, it’s mostly those who perceive their diet as poor […]
Attention! Brain scans can tell if you are paying it
Data from brain scans can now answer an age-old question asked by parents and teachers everywhere: Are you paying attention? Using a model of fMRI data collected from 92 individuals performing several types of attention-related tasks, the lab of Yale’s Marvin Chun successfully predicted how well those individuals would perform on the tasks based on […]
Can wearable technology predict the negative consequences of drinking?
“How much have you had to drink?” might seem like a simple question, but it is not always easy to answer. Although there are general guidelines about responsible alcohol consumption, a person’s level of intoxication depends not only on the number of drinks they consume but also on the alcohol content of those drinks and […]
For stem cells, bigger doesn’t mean better
MIT biologists have answered an important biological question: Why do cells control their size? Cells of the same type are strikingly uniform in size, while cell size differs between different cell types. This raises the question of whether cell size is important for cellular physiology. The new study suggests that cellular enlargement drives a decline […]