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A powerful earthquake struck Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince last night causing mass destruction and fears of a huge death toll in one of the Caribbean’s poorest countries.
Yes. There’s snow in Spain. And in the south of France. Yes, it’s recently been cold in places that aren’t usually cold, and yes, Florida residents have been wearing parkas […]
From anthropological records around the world, you could easily make a case that marriage ties make people more likely to fight.
For this week’s installment of What Went Wrong? we bring you an interview with the Nobel Prize winning economist, Vernon Smith. Having studied bubbles inside and out, he has said […]
During the presidential campaign in 2008, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) reportedly said in private that he believed that the country was ready to elect a black man who, […]
If modern medicine is simply the application of universal scientific knowledge to human bodies, then treatments for the same physical problems should be roughly similar all over the world. Instead, […]
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Each year, 2,000,000 people obtain infections in American hospitals, 100,000 of which die. But as the surgeon and New Yorker staff writer’s work demonstrates, these infections are far from inevitable […]
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You can tell a system is broken when a prominent children’s hospital devises a system that reduces local asthma cases by 87%, but then has to cancel the program due […]
3mins
If you’re a hospital patient, advises surgeon Atul Gawande, make sure a family member is always with you.
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The biggest challenge in our world is not lack of knowledge, but an inherent ineptitude at utilizing a vast and unprecedented web of data. From medicine to architecture to finance, […]
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The fear of massive settlement fees has forced doctors to take a number of generally excessive precautions—including unnecessary CT scans that may cause cancer down the road.
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How does the dynamic change once a "friend" becomes a "patient"? Can small-talk exist with a person you’ve once cut open, or will they now awkwardly try to call you […]
4mins
St. Vincent's Hospital, in New York City, loses $1,000,000 a day in caring for the homeless and uninsured. As the doctor and author explains, the question of treating such patients […]
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Imagine the shock of being told for the first time to grab a knife and cut along a dotted line on a patient’s body. Does the fear from this initial […]
41mins
A conversation with the surgeon, Harvard professor, and New Yorker staff writer.
The efficiency of markets has certainly been called into question in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, but British activist and author Raj Patel goes one step further, asking […]
How do you tell a Rembrandt from a non-Rembrandt? Even the experts have been stumped, and they’ve been stumped for centuries since Rembrandt himself passed away. Drawings by Rembrandt and […]
Reports of airplanes hitting birds and other wildlife have soared to more than 10,000 in the months since a US Airways jet ditched down in New York’s Hudson River.
Japanese car maker Honda is challenging the perception of eco-cars by bringing out a new hybrid generation of its notoriously sporty Honda CR-X…but will consumers buy it?
Amish families in New York State will be exempt from a health-insurance mandate which requires Northern New Yorkers to carry health insurance or risk a fine.