Adventures from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
As a kid you probably found some decisions by your parents utterly unjust. Perhaps you proclaimed, “That’s not fair!” when you were forced to eat spinach, or if your sibling got something you didn’t. As adults, we still experience intense sensations of injustice, sometimes in response to more serious issues such as human rights, health(...)
This blog post is part of an in depth look at research linking sleep and Alzheimers. Read part 1 on the importance of sleep. How is chronic sleep deprivation linked to Alzheimer’s disease? Sleep deprivation refers to the ongoing shortening or complete loss of sleep due to externally imposed restrictions, such as choosing to binge on just(...)
This blog post is part of an in depth look at research linking sleep and Alzheimers. Think about your sleep quality for the past few months. Has your sleep been routinely interrupted or has it been restful? Has your sleep become worse with age? Perhaps the stresses of your daily life have intruded upon your ability(...)
In 1796, an English scientist by the name of Edward Jenner expounded on the observation that milkmaids were generally immune to smallpox. He inoculated people with pus from cowpox blisters from the hands of milkmaids as a method to prevent smallpox, and the concept of vaccination was born. Many radical advances in medicine happen in(...)
You are on a roll. In the morning, you delivered a compelling business proposal. You were the center of attention at lunch and your colleagues loved your witty remarks. In the afternoon meeting, you stood your ground and brilliantly defended your case with irrefutable arguments. When it’s your day, you feel invincible. What gives you(...)
Biology is a vast and rapidly evolving field. The science of life ranges from studying the physical and chemical interactions of molecules to mapping a network of billions of brain cells. How can we make sense of an entity as complicated as an organism? A prevailing attitude in biomedical research has been that if we(...)
While the word cancer treatment may identify everything from chemotherapy to radiation, there is significant variance between the type of cancer and its responsiveness to even the most promising therapies. That has been precisely the case for the α-PD-1 immunotherapy treatment. While it has shown remarkable efficacy in patients diagnosed with lung cancer, other types(...)
When I was 4 years old, my first piano teacher came to my house. Our piano was small and wooden and stood flush against the wall. I started with scales and finger drills, and eventually, as the years passed, found my way to Billy Joel, the Beatles and Elton John sheet music. I was hardly(...)
Humans and animals share the most basic drives in life: the need for food and water, and the urge to procreate. Yet only humans have built a modern world in which these drives seem to cause more problems than they solve. Bookstores worldwide have dedicated whole sections to literature about reconciling your natural desires with(...)
You’ve probably heard of dopamine before. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter—a chemical in the brain responsible for conveying information from one cell to another. It has made quite a name for itself because all of our favorite things—eating delicious food, seeing the person you love, hearing a good song come on, getting a gift, winning a(...)