The metaphor “brokenhearted” is often loosely used to describe someone experiencing various levels of emotional distress. This term, however, is not always a metaphor. In the case of Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, more commonly known as broken heart syndrome, the heart rapidly weakens after undergoing extreme stress, causing people to suffer from a literal broken heart. In […]
Broken heart syndrome Read More »
For thousands of years, philosophers and religions have tried to find hidden meaning in the trials and tribulations of human life. From Greek antiquity and early Hindu texts to Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, we have striven to answer this question: does our suffering have meaning? Many religions and schools of thought hold that hardships are necessary
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger How trauma can lead to psychological resilience Read More »
There’s a trail of red arrows extending along the carpeted floor toward a white tent with two openings, a trace of rubbing alcohol lingers in the air, and Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” is playing over the speakers dotted along the speckled tile ceiling when, suddenly, there are two faint thuds to the
Glitching out in the face of fear Read More »
In a world where the COVID-19 pandemic is still continuing to fester, trying to find clinical experience is even tougher than usual. While these positions were already competitive prior to the pandemic, safety concerns over bringing even more bodies into clinical settings make them even more elusive than before. Yet, through all this, pre-med students
Shadowing during COVID-19: the fragile barrier between doctor and patient Read More »
Physicians must abide by the well-known ethics of the Hippocratic Oath: first, do no harm. One particular method of research, however, seems wholly counterintuitive to a doctor’s mission. Human challenge studies are a method of studying infectious diseases and their treatments by purposefully injecting a healthy participant with disease-causing microbes such as bacteria and viruses.
Morally permissible but problematic: The complex duality of human challenge studies Read More »
Rhythm, melody, and harmony. Each genre of music has its unique combination of pitch, tempo, and texture. Each person’s taste in music is extremely subjective, evoking different emotions and feelings. With so many moving parts, however, it is amazing how a single song can have universal effects on people. Often dubbed the “Mozart Effect,” Mozart’s
Music, mozart, and masking epilepsy Read More »
Including President Joe Biden, Emily Blunt, and James Earl Jones, stuttering affects over 70 million people, including 3 million Americans. Denoted by continuous interruptions in the starting and timing of syllabi, stuttering can have dramatic effects. About five percent of children stutter, but approximately 80 percent recover from stuttering by the time they reach adulthood,
The neurological glitches behind stuttering: Causes and arising treatments Read More »
After an amputation, it is quite common that patients experience a vivid perception that their limb is still present. In fact, roughly 80 percent of patients report pain from the phantom limb. According to neurologist Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran of the University of California, San Diego, within the first few weeks status-post an amputation, many patients
How to amputate a phantom limb Read More »
Death has long been known as the event horizon of neuroscience. While it is still infeasible for neuroscientists to examine the experiences of dead brains, recent studies have provided much insight into the moments preceding death. According to Daniel Condziella of Copenhagen University Hospital, brain death — currently, the most commonly accepted definition of legal
Your brain on death Read More »