The GOP convention is over, and summer has clamped its heat dome on us. This may be just the time for you to sit down with my “Game of Genomes” series at Stat.
Season Two came out on Monday. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, July 22, 2016”
The New York Times, July 20, 2016
The brain looks like a featureless expanse of folds and bulges, but it’s actually carved up into invisible territories. Each is specialized: Some groups of neurons become active when we recognize faces, others when we read, others when we raise our hands.
On Wednesday, in what many experts are calling a milestone in neuroscience, researchers published a spectacular new map of the brain, detailing nearly 100 previously unknown regions — an unprecedented glimpse into the machinery of the human mind.
Continue reading “Updated Brain Map Identifies Nearly 100 New Regions”
For the past few months, I’ve been traveling through my genome with the guidance of a couple dozen scientists. On Monday, Stat published the first part of my narrative of the experience. You can read it here.
As part of the package, I’ve also set up a parallel web site for the scientific nuts and bolts. I’ve posted some of the analysis that researchers produced while poring over my genome. And you can find the raw data of my genome there, too (including files of variants, and the original, gigantic BAM file). I hope it will be of use to teachers who want to show students how to make sense of a genome. I will add more materials as the next two parts of the series are published.
This week I also talked about the experience a few times. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, July 15, 2016”
I was so busy looking back at the week that was that I forgot to mention that, on Monday at 3 pm ET, I will be on Reddit for an AMA about my genome series.
I’ll be answering questions about what it’s like to look at your own genome, the future of genomes in medicine, the evolutionary clues hidden in our DNA, and whatever other questions you may have. Please join us. Continue reading “A Friday’s Elk P.S.! I’ll be on Reddit on Monday”
The New York Times, July 15, 2016
A fecal transplant is exactly what it sounds like: To treat certain gut disorders, doctors transfer stool from a healthy donor to a sick patient.
Just a few years ago, only a few doctors turned to fecal transplants, typically as a last resort. But in randomized trials, the procedure has proved remarkably effective against potentially fatal infections of bacteria known as Clostridium difficile.
The evidence has overwhelmed any squeamishness that physicians might have felt. “We’re doing this treatment almost weekly,” said Dr. Harry Sokol, a gastroenterologist at Saint-Antoine Hospital AP-HP in Paris.
Continue reading “Fecal Transplants Can Be Life-Saving, but How?”