Medicine

Ebola hysteria dominated popular news in 2014. However, since the outbreak began to draw attention in March earlier this year, only two people have been infected in the United States. Did this really warrant non-stop media coverage? Much of this attention may have been attributed in part to the worry that Ebola may “mutate to become airborne,” but is this even something we need to worry about?

You may have read the recent media stories that a cure for Type I Diabetes is “imminent” and wondered what the buzz was about—is a cure indeed imminent and, if so, what does this mean for modern medicine? Hippo Reads’s Science Correspondent Wudan Yan spoke with Felicia Pagliuca, a postdoc in Melton’s lab, about the work that went into this landmark Harvard study, the importance of collaboration, and where diabetes research will go from here.

“How do we get patients in need of care to the people who best know how to take care of them? The logistical operations required, especially in large urban settings, make the answer to this question complex.” In this curation, medical student Laura Christianson addresses hospital workflows and how treatment timelines can impact diagnoses.

Media portrayals of Ebola paint a stark picture—hazmat suits, mass graves, evacuations. But what do past worldwide epidemics have to teach us? Medical student Mark Wien examines epidemiology’s history lessons.

In the US, health care accounts for 17.9 percent of GDP spending, the highest of anywhere in the world. Who are some of the frugal medicine innovators and why are their technologies critically improving healthcare around the world? This slideshow provides a few examples of frugal medicine.

Surgery is nothing like you see on TV—what is the modern-day Operating Room like and what innovations are impacting surgical techniques and perspectives? In this interview, Dr. Alexander Langerman of the University of Chicago Hospital elucidates what happens behind the curtain.

At the core of the #icebucketchallenge’s mission is the role social media plays in raising awareness and funds for positive causes. But is social media an effective campaign mechanism? Is true awareness really garnered from these efforts or are these dead-end challenges?