Author: Michelle Korhonen
When you think of your closest friends, who comes to mind? Perhaps the college roommate you used to confide in while the two of you lay on your twin beds. Maybe the co-worker from your first job with whom you’d debrief and laugh after every meeting, or the neighbor you played with as a child. Regardless of how you met these people, they likely have one key thing in common: They’re all roughly the same age as you.Most Americans don’t seem to have much age diversity in their friendships. A 2023 study found that, for a group of young adults…
Does fecal transplant work for weight loss? Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a medical procedure that involves transferring stool from a healthy donor to a recipient with a specific medical condition. FMT has been shown to be effective in treating a variety of conditions, including recurrent C. Diff infection, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease.In recent years, there has been growing interest in the potential of FMT to treat obesity and weight loss. The gut microbiome, the community of bacteria that live in the intestines, plays a role in a variety of metabolic processes, including energy metabolism. Studies have shown that…
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the issue of free speech on college campuses has received a new wave of scrutiny. Palestinian student groups have faced threats of censorship for their statements, donors have warned about pulling funding, and employers have blacklisted students who blamed Israel for Hamas’s attack.But as far as free speech is concerned, 2023 has been a relatively normal year for colleges and universities. Just don’t confuse “normal” with “good.”So far this year, my organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), has received 1,312 submissions about possible free-speech violations. Compare that with 1,394 in…
When the Center for Reproductive Rights first announced the lawsuit against Texas in March, there were five patient plaintiffs. Now there are 20. Sarah McCammon/NPR hide caption toggle caption Sarah McCammon/NPR When the Center for Reproductive Rights first announced the lawsuit against Texas in March, there were five patient plaintiffs. Now there are 20. Sarah McCammon/NPR On Tuesday, the Texas Supreme Court will consider this question: Are the state’s abortion laws harming women when they face pregnancy complications? The case, brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights, has grown to include 22 plaintiffs, including 20 patients and two physicians. They…
Dear Therapist,I am struggling to set a much-needed boundary with my mom around Christmas.I’m a divorced mom of one, and my ex-husband and I split the holiday. My daughter is either with me on Christmas Eve and then goes to her dad’s on Christmas afternoon or vice versa, depending on the year. We’ve been divorced since she was little, so we’ve been doing this for years.Our parents live near each other, about three and a half hours away, and we both go down to see our own moms for Christmas. My mom is toxic and guilt-trips me big-time whenever I…
Casey McIntyre (right) Andrew Gregory (center) and their daughter, Grace. Evan Gregory/Andrew Gregory hide caption toggle caption Evan Gregory/Andrew Gregory Casey McIntyre (right) Andrew Gregory (center) and their daughter, Grace. Evan Gregory/Andrew Gregory Casey McIntyre wanted her legacy to be clearing medical debt for others. But her husband Andrew Gregory says they never dreamed it would get this far. Who is she? McIntyre was a mother, wife and publisher at Penguin Random House. What did she do? Inspired by the philanthropy of others, McIntyre and Gregory orchestrated what they called a “debt jubilee” in her honor. They set up a…
On December 1, 1900, at an intimate concert hall in Vienna, a respected local baritone gave the premiere of some early songs for voice and piano by Arnold Schoenberg. Today this music, though written in an elusive harmonic language, comes across as exuding hyper-Wagnerian richness and Brahmsian expressive depth. But the audience in Vienna broke into shouts, laughter, and jeers. From that day on, as Schoenberg ruefully recalled two decades later, “the scandal has never ceased.”The author Harvey Sachs relates this story, and describes the songs sensitively, in his new book, Schoenberg: Why He Matters. As Sachs makes clear, the…
With the information here, get to know if Rhinoplasty is dangerous for you. Rhinoplasty, also known as a nose job, is a surgical procedure that reshapes the nose to improve its appearance and, in some cases, improve breathing function. It is a common cosmetic procedure, with over 300,000 performed in the United States each year. People perform this surgery for various reasons, such as; aesthetic concerns, functional problems, and reconstruction. So for whichever reason you may have to get a rhinoplasty done, it’s important to abreast your knowledge with answers to some popular questions before making that decision.In this article,…
In this week’s Unsung Hero, Sarah Lubarsky recalls the doctor who addressed her fiancé’s medical emergency when no one else would. MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: Time now for “My Unsung Hero,” our series from the team at Hidden Brain. “My Unsung Hero” tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. Today’s story comes from Sarah Lubarsky.SARAH LUBARSKY: Forty years ago, I was living in New York City with my fiance and came home from work and realized very quickly that he was extremely ill. He was vomiting. He was slurring his words. And I…
To my grandmother, who has lived her entire life in Italy, gluten-free pasta is “una follia”—nonsense, madness. A twirl of spaghetti or forkful of rigatoni should provide a familiar textural delight: a noodle that is both elastic and firm, holding a distinct, springy shape that your teeth can sink into with some, but not too much, resistance. That is all because of the gluten in wheat.Upon taste-testing some popular brands of pasta made from ingredients such as rice, corn, and chickpea flour, I understood my grandmother’s doubts. The various noodles retained a firm, if not al dente, shape at the…