In countries where many are performing surgery without any formal training, a Christian organization is educating surgeons who stay around despite little pay or prestige- sometimes despite real danger.
See more. [Images: Brian Till]
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December 28, 2012
November 30, 2012
![The Case for Drinking as Much Coffee as You Like
“Coffee and caffeine have been inexorably intertwined in our thinking, but truth is coffee contains a whole lot of other stuff with biological benefits,” said Martin. And most concerns about caffeine’s negative effects on the heart have been dispelled. In June, a meta-analysis of ten years of research went so far as to find an inverse association between habitual, moderate consumption and risk of heart failure. The association peaked at four cups per day, and coffee didn’t stop being beneficial until subjects had increased their daily consumption to beyond ten cups.
Read more. [Image: Flickr]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_meb6vqpoXq1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
The Case for Drinking as Much Coffee as You Like
“Coffee and caffeine have been inexorably intertwined in our thinking, but truth is coffee contains a whole lot of other stuff with biological benefits,” said Martin. And most concerns about caffeine’s negative effects on the heart have been dispelled. In June, a meta-analysis of ten years of research went so far as to find an inverse association between habitual, moderate consumption and risk of heart failure. The association peaked at four cups per day, and coffee didn’t stop being beneficial until subjects had increased their daily consumption to beyond ten cups.
Read more. [Image: Flickr]
November 28, 2012
![In Alzheimer’s Disease, Maintaining Connection and ‘Saving Face’
We tend to preserve a mental image of the person as they were prior to their illness, the way we’ve known them our whole lives. Think about when you reunite with someone you haven’t seen in 20 years. Before you meet with them, you have an image of them from 20 years ago frozen in your memory. You are always at least a little surprised that, in reality, they have aged. You might recoil at the thought that they must be thinking the exact same thing. As our parents age, we continue to see them as the people that we love and in the roles that they played in our lives in the past — strong, supportive, and knowledgeable.
Read more. [Image: uabmagazine]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me7hshvjA81qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
In Alzheimer’s Disease, Maintaining Connection and ‘Saving Face’
We tend to preserve a mental image of the person as they were prior to their illness, the way we’ve known them our whole lives. Think about when you reunite with someone you haven’t seen in 20 years. Before you meet with them, you have an image of them from 20 years ago frozen in your memory. You are always at least a little surprised that, in reality, they have aged. You might recoil at the thought that they must be thinking the exact same thing. As our parents age, we continue to see them as the people that we love and in the roles that they played in our lives in the past — strong, supportive, and knowledgeable.
Read more. [Image: uabmagazine]
November 20, 2012
![You Are Most Likely to Die at 11 a.m.
Particularly when you’re older, you are 14 percent more likely to die on your birthday than on any other day of the year. Particularly when you live in certain geographical areas, you are 13 percent more likely to die after getting a paycheck. And particularly when you’re human, you are more likely to die in the late morning — around 11 a.m., specifically — than at any other time during the day.
Yes. That last one comes from a new study, published in the Annals of Neurology, that identifies a common gene variant affecting circadian rhythms. And that variant, it seems, could also predict the time of day you will die.
Even death, apparently, has a circadian rhythm.
Read more. [Image: Shutterstock/Allies Interactive Services Pvt. Ltd.]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdsnciXN4a1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
You Are Most Likely to Die at 11 a.m.
Particularly when you’re older, you are 14 percent more likely to die on your birthday than on any other day of the year. Particularly when you live in certain geographical areas, you are 13 percent more likely to die after getting a paycheck. And particularly when you’re human, you are more likely to die in the late morning — around 11 a.m., specifically — than at any other time during the day.
Yes. That last one comes from a new study, published in the Annals of Neurology, that identifies a common gene variant affecting circadian rhythms. And that variant, it seems, could also predict the time of day you will die.
Even death, apparently, has a circadian rhythm.
Read more. [Image: Shutterstock/Allies Interactive Services Pvt. Ltd.]
October 25, 2012
![The Sex Lives of Conjoined Twins
One thing we know for sure about the sexuality of conjoined twins: People who aren’t conjoined are fascinated by it. At least it seems that way, judging by the number of reporters calling me to ask about the sex lives of conjoined twins since the A&E reality show Abby and Brittany went on the air several weeks ago. As I’ve told callers, although there are no real studies of the sex lives of conjoined twins, we can safely assume that conjoined twins want — and occasionally feel conflicted about wanting — sex, as we all do.
But not as conflicted as we singletons seem to feel about them having sex. Typically, people who are close to conjoined twins come to adjust and see them as different but normal; they seem fairly untroubled by the idea of conjoined twins pursuing sex and romance. But those who are watching from afar cannot abide.
Read more. [Image: KubaBożanowski/Flickr]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcgfe73PVS1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
The Sex Lives of Conjoined Twins
One thing we know for sure about the sexuality of conjoined twins: People who aren’t conjoined are fascinated by it. At least it seems that way, judging by the number of reporters calling me to ask about the sex lives of conjoined twins since the A&E reality show Abby and Brittany went on the air several weeks ago. As I’ve told callers, although there are no real studies of the sex lives of conjoined twins, we can safely assume that conjoined twins want — and occasionally feel conflicted about wanting — sex, as we all do.
But not as conflicted as we singletons seem to feel about them having sex. Typically, people who are close to conjoined twins come to adjust and see them as different but normal; they seem fairly untroubled by the idea of conjoined twins pursuing sex and romance. But those who are watching from afar cannot abide.
Read more. [Image: KubaBożanowski/Flickr]
October 11, 2012
![‘I Share My Body With 20 Personalities:’ A Poignant Look at Dissociative Identity Disorder
Fourteen of whom are highly successful artists with distinct styles. It was — difficult — to accept.
Read more. [Image: Kim Noble]](http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/food/noblemain615.jpg)
‘I Share My Body With 20 Personalities:’ A Poignant Look at Dissociative Identity Disorder
Fourteen of whom are highly successful artists with distinct styles. It was — difficult — to accept.
Read more. [Image: Kim Noble]
October 11, 2012
Broccoli: + MRI + GIF = Awesomeness
About two years ago, Andy Ellison needed to test one of the MRI machines he works with at his job at Boston University Medical School. He reached for an orange. The result was stunning.
See more. [Images: Andy Ellison]
September 14, 2012
![When I Was 26, I Had a Stroke
Before my stroke, I was a .com-er with a hip job in a downtown office painted kindergarten colors. I wore vintage clothing and stompy boots. I was cute enough: small and wimpy, pale, with very dark hair and strong eyebrows. I lived in Washington, D.C.’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. Other generations were jealous of young professionals like me.
But when I was 26, I had a stroke. My mind went pop. I found myself in a D.C. hospital for the summer, a different person. My motor skills had been slammed. I couldn’t really move my right arm at all, which was always folded tight against my chest, as if I was defending myself. My right hand clenched itself into an angryfist that I could not open. My trunk muscles and my right leg were a little better. I could get around, for short distances. But most of the time, maybe 20 hours a day, I was asleep, gone.
When I was awake, my speech felt the most broken. I wasn’t making much sense. My words were coming out wrong, if at all. I would occasionally come up with sentences that were intact and appropriate. Hospital notes include me saying, “I like to go to obscure cultural events.”
Other times it was like… oh… and nothing was coming out. I was particularly bad at naming things. Therapists would show me a picture — a snail, a harp, a harmonica — and ask me what it was. More than half the time, I shook my head. I would understand people without difficulty.
You know what it feels like when you can’t identify a snail?
Shitty.
Read more. [Image: craigcloutier/Flickr]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_macgf0jFMT1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
Before my stroke, I was a .com-er with a hip job in a downtown office painted kindergarten colors. I wore vintage clothing and stompy boots. I was cute enough: small and wimpy, pale, with very dark hair and strong eyebrows. I lived in Washington, D.C.’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. Other generations were jealous of young professionals like me.
But when I was 26, I had a stroke. My mind went pop. I found myself in a D.C. hospital for the summer, a different person. My motor skills had been slammed. I couldn’t really move my right arm at all, which was always folded tight against my chest, as if I was defending myself. My right hand clenched itself into an angryfist that I could not open. My trunk muscles and my right leg were a little better. I could get around, for short distances. But most of the time, maybe 20 hours a day, I was asleep, gone.
When I was awake, my speech felt the most broken. I wasn’t making much sense. My words were coming out wrong, if at all. I would occasionally come up with sentences that were intact and appropriate. Hospital notes include me saying, “I like to go to obscure cultural events.”
Other times it was like… oh… and nothing was coming out. I was particularly bad at naming things. Therapists would show me a picture — a snail, a harp, a harmonica — and ask me what it was. More than half the time, I shook my head. I would understand people without difficulty.
You know what it feels like when you can’t identify a snail?
Shitty.
Read more. [Image: craigcloutier/Flickr]
August 14, 2012
![Portland Might Finally Add Some Fluoride to Its Water
Public water was first fluoridated in the 1940s. But though the program proved popular (today, two-thirds of Americans drink fluoride-enriched water), the idea has never quite shaken its sheen of controversy. Some see dental health, others see mind control.
Now, resistance from one of the country’s biggest cities may be coming to an end.
Read more. [Image: Shutterstock]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8r3e9oWvu1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
Portland Might Finally Add Some Fluoride to Its Water
Public water was first fluoridated in the 1940s. But though the program proved popular (today, two-thirds of Americans drink fluoride-enriched water), the idea has never quite shaken its sheen of controversy. Some see dental health, others see mind control.
Now, resistance from one of the country’s biggest cities may be coming to an end.
Read more. [Image: Shutterstock]
August 9, 2012
![Here Comes Super Gonorrhea
Over the past decades, gonorrhea has been mowing down our antibiotics. If this was the Olympic 400 IM, gonorrhea would be the Ryan Lochte and our antibiotics would be the guy from Moldova.
The list of effective antibiotics has been dwindling as the bacteria became resistant, and now it’s down to one.
Read more. [Image: tonrulkens/Flickr]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8i7scIm5C1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
Over the past decades, gonorrhea has been mowing down our antibiotics. If this was the Olympic 400 IM, gonorrhea would be the Ryan Lochte and our antibiotics would be the guy from Moldova.
The list of effective antibiotics has been dwindling as the bacteria became resistant, and now it’s down to one.
Read more. [Image: tonrulkens/Flickr]
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Here’s today’s Daily GIF!
