Author: Michelle Korhonen
Doctors have long dealt with perceived threats to their careers if they are open about mental illness and addiction. Now about two dozen states are changing licensing forms to lessen the stigma.
At 149 miles an hour, the world’s fastest roller coaster, Formula Rossa in Abu Dhabi, is so quick that riders must don goggles to protect their eyes from the wind. But even the formidable Formula Rossa is no match for the 157-mile-an-hour-plus winds of a Category 5 hurricane, which can collapse a home’s walls and cave in its roof. And yet, according to a new paper, Category 5 may itself be no match for several recent hurricanes.Right now, every hurricane with maximum sustained wind speeds above 156 miles an hour is considered a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind…
GoFundMe started as a crowdfunding site for underwriting “ideas and dreams,” and, as GoFundMe’s co-founders, Andrew Ballester and Brad Damphousse, once put it, “for life’s important moments.” In the early years, it funded honeymoon trips, graduation gifts, and church missions to overseas hospitals in need. Now GoFundMe has become a go-to for patients trying to escape medical-billing nightmares.One study found that, in 2020, the number of U.S. campaigns related to medical causes—about 200,000—was 25 times higher than the number of such campaigns on the site in 2011. More than 500 campaigns are currently dedicated to asking for financial help for…
Parts of central Chile have recently experienced unusually high temperatures and dry weather, sparking dozens of forest fires that have killed more than 100 people. Over the weekend, wildfires burned through several hillside neighborhoods in the city of Viña del Mar, destroying hundreds of homes. A state of emergency was declared by Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who also declared two days of national mourning, as firefighters still work to contain the blazes, and survivors return to their homes to recover what they can.
In Arnold Monto’s ideal vision of this fall, the United States’ flu vaccines would be slated for some serious change—booting a major ingredient that they’ve consistently included since 2013. The component isn’t dangerous. And it made sense to use before. But to include it again now, Monto, an epidemiologist and a flu expert at the University of Michigan, told me, would mean vaccinating people “against something that doesn’t exist.”That probably nonexistent something is Yamagata, a lineage of influenza B viruses that hasn’t been spotted by global surveyors since March of 2020, shortly after COVID mitigations plummeted flu transmission to record…
In 2003, Warner Bros. released the much-hyped Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, some 12 years after the previous installment in the franchise. The celebrated critic Roger Ebert was not impressed. The movie, he wrote, “abandons its own tradition to provide wall-to-wall action in what is essentially one long chase and fight, punctuated by comic, campy or simplistic dialogue.” Unfazed, the film’s promoters proudly emblazoned Ebert’s verdict on their advertising. Well, four words of it: “Wall-to-wall action.”Context matters. It can completely change the meaning of a phrase or an act. And yet, since October 7, many otherwise thoughtful and intelligent…
About four years ago, a new patient came to see me for a psychiatric consultation because he felt stuck. He’d been in therapy for 15 years, despite the fact that the depression and anxiety that first drove him to seek help had long ago faded. Instead of working on problems related to his symptoms, he and his therapist chatted about his vacations, house renovations, and office gripes. His therapist had become, in effect, an expensive and especially supportive friend. And yet, when I asked if he was considering quitting treatment, he grew hesitant, even anxious. “It’s just baked into my…
I.The international airport serving the capital of Montenegro has only two arrival gates, and last spring they were busier than usual. I was there for the same reason many others were: The tiny Balkan state had become the unlikely center of a mostly American social and political movement.Specifically, I had come to observe Zuzalu, a two-month co-living experiment that had been organized—and to some extent paid for—by Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of the eco-friendly cryptocurrency ethereum. It was being hosted at a new resort and planned community on the Adriatic coast, not far from the village of Radovići. Part retreat…
Allie Phillips, 28, is running to represent Tennessee’s District 75. She also cares for four children at her in-home daycare in Clarksville during the week. Emily Moses for NPR hide caption toggle caption Emily Moses for NPR Allie Phillips, 28, is running to represent Tennessee’s District 75. She also cares for four children at her in-home daycare in Clarksville during the week. Emily Moses for NPR The path to Tennessee politics for Allie Phillips began last year in her doctor’s office. She was 19 weeks pregnant when she got the devastating news about her unborn daughter: only two of the…
These days, you can order up a test to find out your biological age, an estimate of how quickly or slowly you’re aging compared to your peers. It’s based on an analysis of modifications in your DNA. I took one of these biological age tests myself last fall at a longevity lab. The one I took is called GrimAge and it’s used by many longevity researchers to study aging. After hearing my story about getting the test, listeners and readers wrote in asking how these tests work, how accurate they are and whether they should get one. Good questions! I…