​Healthcare Journalism

​Something in Your Voice
New speech analysis technologies can help diagnose mental illness. But they also raise troubling questions.
​Proto

Why Do Young, Healthy People Die from COVID-19?
They represent a small minority of victims. But these patients could hold valuable lessons about how COVID-19 works—and how to stop it.
​Proto
 
COVID-19 On Purpose
One sure-fire way to test vaccines and treatments is to deliberately infect volunteers. Once unthinkable, the idea is quickly gaining steam.
​Proto
 
How Should We Police a Pandemic?
The role of law enforcement has never been so fiercely debated. So should health officials rethink how the rules of COVID-19 get enforced?
​Proto

Saving Generation Juliana
Climate change becomes a flashpoint for a new generation of physician activists.
​Proto

The Desperate Race for Halal Vaccines
Vaccine skepticism is a growing problem in the Muslim world, too. Making medicines without pork products is one obvious—but tricky—solution.
​Proto

The Battle of the Bouffant
Guidelines for operating room attire may change in 2019 and ease tension over donning the controversial bouffant.
​Proto

Bullies on Notice
Toxic work environments are bad for science. Morteza Mahmoudi is on a crusade to clean them up.​
​​Proto

Can Wind Turbines Make You Sick? Or Crazy?
Some people living in the shadows of wind turbines say they’re making them sick. Almost as
upsetting: Their neighbors don’t feel a thing.
New York (print)

First They Got Sick, Then They Moved into a Virtual Utopia
Real life Fran was a hiker and a dancer. But when Parkinson's stole her mobility,
​she discovered a new home--and a community of others like her--inside Second Life.    
​Wired

Fiery Dispute Over Hot Rocks in Hawaii
Residents of a hippie enclave on the Big Island say the local geothermal plant is bad for their health. It's part of a colorful ongoing battle in the nation's most oil-dependent state.
Al Jazeera

How to Adapt to Your Face Transplant
The human face is a kind of synecdoche for the self, and yet a face transplant may
​be less disruptive to the psyche than we might expect. 
Nautilus
 
The Telltale Strand
The genomics revolution has hit the courtroom, with the first case that relies on a powerful
new DNA reading technique. Called next generation sequencing, it will transform forensic science. 
​Proto
 
Is Genetic Privacy a Myth?
Genetic tests and genome sequencing are generating terabytes of sensitive private
data. How can they be kept safe?
​Proto

​Fighting Anti-Vaxxers with a Marathon Science Reading
If anything can get past the vitriol of the vaccine wars, it's On Immunity.
The Verge

Food Web: Trade Networks May be Key to Solving Hunger
Global trade helps nations meet food demand, but also increases the possibility that shocks to food production will cross borders. 
Earth Institute

Should Older Patients Have their Own ED?
Advanced age brings special needs, especially in the emergency department. So some hospitals are changing designs and processes for their senior patients. 
Proto

Why Doctors Must Solve the Suicide Problem
As despair deaths reach historic levels in the U.S., healthcare checkpoints may be the best place for intervention.
Proto
 
The Shape of Things
Design choices pervade the health care system, and pediatrician Joyce Lee wants to make them smarter. 
Proto 
 
Babel in the ICU
Machines in an ICU can't speak to one another—but what if they could?
Proto
 
A Touch of Sugar
The science behind placebos has come a long way since the sugar pill.
Ted Kaptchuk is leading the revolution.
Proto
 
Same Pig, Second Act
After major breakthrough in gene editing, pig organs show new promise for use in humans.
Proto
 
Unsound the Alarm
Hundreds of alarms compete for a clinician's attention. Can less noise mean better care?
Proto
 
New Allies in the HIV Fight
An MGH program in South Africa partners with young women to research the earliest phase of HIV infection.
Proto
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