Scientists have known about bird flu (H5N1) for decades as a virus that primarily affects birds. Until suddenly, one day, it didn’t. In March 2024, H5N1 showed up somewhere very unexpected—in dairy cows in Texas (and their milk). And then, the vi…
Category: Conditions
“The medical board doesn’t know I exist. That’s the point.”
She whispered when she said “panic attacks.” Not because she thought I would judge her or fail to understand. But because she was a physician, and in her world, saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could cost her everything. She found…
When moisturizers trigger airport bomb alarms
Explosive trace detection systems at airport checkpoints are designed to identify minute quantities of explosive materials through techniques such as ion mobility spectrometry. However, their high sensitivity comes at a cost: False-positive alarms can …
Medicaid cuts are quietly fueling the diabetic kidney failure crisis
We’re constantly reminded of the organ shortage and the lives lost while waiting for a kidney. Like fish unaware they swim in water, we’ve accepted the rising tide of kidney failure as natural and inevitable—but it’s not. The most urg…
What super agers can teach us about longevity and health span
An excerpt from Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity. For many years, my colleagues and I have been fascinated by individuals like Mrs. L. R., who are so lucky to be so resilient to diseases. In 2008, we set up a research project called…
JFK warned us about physical fitness. Sixty years later, we’re still not listening.
“We are under-exercised as a nation; we look instead of play; we ride instead of walk.” —John F. Kennedy, Sports Illustrated, 1960 In 1960, then-President-elect John F. Kennedy issued a striking warning: Americans were becoming physically u…
My journey from misdiagnosis to living fully with APBD
I have always been a performer at heart, starting with theater in school. For 28 years, I was a law professor at Indiana University in Indianapolis, and teaching gave me a captive audience. Beyond the classroom, I have always been passionate about musi…
Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails
In numerous writings and venues regarding physician practice, the claim is made that “physician education is lacking in nutrition, geriatrics, care for non-cisgender people, relating to patients in general, cultural respect, equitable treatment, …
She wouldn’t move in the womb—then came the rare diagnosis that changed everything
Even before Mia was born, I could sense that something about her was different. With my other children, I felt constant movement during pregnancy, but Mia stayed curled up in one spot and hardly moved at all. When I mentioned this to my obstetrician, h…
Diabetes and Alzheimer’s: What your blood sugar might be doing to your brain
There’s an ever-growing body of evidence to suggest that diabetes contributes to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Some even go so far as to dub Alzheimer’s disease “diabetes type III.” How might diabetes cause Alzhe…
