Stories by Hilda Bastian

Sometimes, all the implications of a new commitment can become clear in a single, blinding flash. But other times, realization creeps up slowly at first, then gathers momentum.

Another day, another fuss about an animal study. This time, it’s a cancer scare around a common antibacterial in soaps: triclosan. “The dirty side of soap,” says the headline on the university’s press release.

“What is your generation going to do? You don’t have a choice. You will make a mark. Will it be the mark of apathy? Or will you make the internet what it could be?” Michael Carroll is a Professor of Law and one of the founders of the Creative Commons.

Nil by mouth, they say. But your tongue is so dry it sticks to the roof of your mouth. Your throat is sore from having a breathing tube down it for a couple of hours.

She started by asking me something like, “We understand you know a lot about AIDS, is that right?” “A fair bit, I guess. Why?” It was 20 years ago, in Sydney – before the antiretroviral drug combinations arrived.

“The world of medical journals needs a fresh infusion of idealism.” And with those words from PLOS founders, Mike Eisen, Pat Brown, and Harold Varmus, the first issue of PLOS Medicine launched 10 years ago today.

“Risky” is definitely not a one-size-fits-all concept. It’s not just that we aren’t all at the same level of every risk.

There’s never been anything quite like this. The latest ripple effect of the 1945-65 baby boom will be a drug bill so high, that paying it, says Australia’s advisors, “is not possible.” How high is this bill going to be?

He would dab on a bit of cocaine to anesthetize his eyes first. Then, to prevent air getting in, Müller would insert the lenses with his eyes under water.

I used to think there was no question about this. Induction was the prologue to a long, hard labor that often wouldn’t go well. And cesarean section was the (un)natural logical end of that.

Laughter can be a joyous shortcut between people. It’s relaxing, and a playful way to engage our minds. Science, on the other hand, can be tough to explain and digest.

Have you been forgetful lately? Any difficulty concentrating? Trouble recalling names? Answer “yes” to even one question like that, and there are some who want you to head to a clinic for memory screening.

His first big clue came when people started hemorrhaging after chewing gum. Lawrence Craven did tonsil and adenoid surgery in his office. And it usually went well.

Outbreaks of science myth-busting can be a bit of a puzzlement. The science behind a popular headline-maker might be a tottering house of cards, but it can be impressively sturdy nevertheless.

It’s not really news when a journalist goes cherry-picking for juicy tidbits to fit a narrative, is it? We all fall into the trap of going too easy on the things we want to believe.

A competition for attention lies at the heart of the scientific enterprise. And the abstract is its “blurb.” A scientific abstract is a summary used to attract readers to an article and to get a piece of research accepted for a conference presentation.

You could get a very sore neck watching all the claims and counter-claims about mammography zing back and forth. It’s like a lot of evidence ping-pong matches.

Act I: An ounce of “prevention.” “Prevention is better than cure.” Aphorisms like this go back a long way. And most of our dramatic triumphs against disease come from prevention: clean water, making roads and workplaces safer, antiseptic routines in hospital, reducing smoking, immunization, stemming the spread of HIV.

Guest post by Michelle Munyikwa I am currently still reveling in Black History Month. Yes, it is no longer February. But I hope to retain that mindfulness, grasping onto this moment each year that forces us to pay attention to the stories of black peoples across America and draws into stark relief how histories have [...]

Guest post by Michelle Munyikwa The skull was smaller than I expected it to be, shockingly light in my hands. Despite its yellow-stained surface it had the appearance of being well kept, almost as if it had been polished.

Guest blog by Michelle Munyikwa I recently read this article in Health Affairs regarding the effects of the hidden curriculum on patient safety and, in my usual fashion, have been thinking about it ever since.

There don’t seem to be all that many PhD anthropologists who are also physicians. It’s a long, daunting road to get there: 12 years of study to be exact.

The one time I went flying off the side of a mountain on skis, I certainly didn’t mean to. Before I hit the ground, there was a surprising amount of time for reflection—and more on the long painful schlep down to the ambulance

When I was a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, wiping your nose on your clothes wasa bit of a boy thing – and a bit of a marker of class, too.