As a public health advocate, I was ecstatic to watch the “Ice Bucket Challenge” social media campaign raise for ALS. Over the past two and half weeks, the ALS Association earned over 13 million dollars in donations. Last year, during the same period, the ALS raised a paltry $1.7 million in comparison. The viral campaign, sparked by the heartfelt plea of a college baseball player, Pete Frates, grew funding exponentially.
Read MoreMy inner biology geek was thrilled with the recent “vampire mice” studies that hit mainstream media last week. There were three studies that together formulated the content behind the attention-grabbing headlines “Young Blood Restores Old Mice“ and “Could Young Blood Be the Fountain of Youth?“
Read MoreMy favorite statistics brainteaser is the Monty Hall problem. The setup is that a game show host asks you to stand in front of one of three doors. Behind one of the three doors is a prize. After you choose a door, he opens one of the two remaining doors to reveal an empty room. At this point you’re offered the chance to switch doors. What would you do?
Read MoreI watched, mesmerized, as the woman next to me kept tapping and flicking her fingers over the iPad screen. In her mid-forties, she was as glued to the bright colors and animations on the screen as her two young kids sandwiched next to her, tapping away on their own tablets.
Read MoreAs every basketball fan knows, there was only room this week for news of upsets, overtime games, and three pointers. One set of headlines, however, caught my eye. “Shift workers beware: Sleep loss may cause brain damage, new research says” , “Lost sleep leads to lost brain cells”, “Lack of Sleep Kills Brain Cells, New Study Shows”.
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