Healthcare Triage
Heart Stents, Angina, and the Placebo Effect
Stents are a popular treatment for angina pectoris, or chest pain usually resulting from narrowed arteries. Getting a stent is a serious procedure, with no small risk associated with it. And recent studies indicate that stents don't do...
Healthcare Triage
Good News! Smoking is on the Decline, and You Don't Need that Vitamin D Test!
Smoking prevalence is way down in the US, and you likely don't need to be screened about Vitamin D deficiency. It's good news all around on Healthcare triage News.
Professor Dave Explains
Applications of Dendrochronology
Now that we know a bit about what dendrochronology is and how it's done, what can it be used for? In fact, tree ring studies are highly relevant in a multitude of other fields, including archaeology, ecology, forestry, paleoclimatology,...
Healthcare Triage
Does Vitamin D Influence Mood?
We’ve scoured the data for you when it comes to Vitamin D supplements, coming up empty-handed almost every time. We know it doesn’t help with a variety of conditions, including those related to the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal...
Healthcare Triage
The Ups and Downs of Evidence Based Medicine
This week on HCT, we're talking about evidence based medicine. We talk about it a lot here on the show, but what exactly does the term mean? Why is evidence based medicine useful, and what can we do to use it more effectively?
Healthcare Triage
Myths About Foster Care and About Abused Kids: HCT News
Two studies this week bust some myths about sensitive topics and kids. This is Healthcare Triage News.
Professor Dave Explains
Techniques for Sampling and Analysis in Dendrochronology
We now know what dendrochronologists do. They examine tree rings. But precisely how do they do this? How do they collect the data? How do they analyze it? This is a very involved question, but let's try to answer it by investigating the...
Healthcare Triage
Is Medicaid Coverage Better or Worse than Private Insurance?
It's clearly, provably better for patients to have Medicaid coverage than to be uninsured, despite what critics of the program claim. Recently, bills in the Senate and the House of Representatives have sought to greatly reduce Medicaid...
Healthcare Triage
Even MORE Studies Confirm, Calcium Still Doesn't Prevent Fractures
There are a few topics that just never get old for me. "Pay for performance". "overtesting". "medical myths". And, of course, my never-ending war with the milk industrial complex.
Healthcare Triage
Measles Infections Can Wipe Out Immunity to OTHER Diseases
We're very clearly in favor of vaccines here at Healthcare Triage, because they save a LOT of lives. It turns out, the measles vaccine was doing more than we previously thought. Getting infected with measles doesn't only make you sick,...
Cerebellum
Early Scientific Revolution - Leondardo Da Vinci
Europe experienced one of the most remarkable periods in history roughly between 1550 and 1700, when three of history's most important events were occurring simultaneously: the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution....
Healthcare Triage
Would Medicare for All Increase Your Wages?
Medicare for All, which would extend health coverage to all Americans, has been a hot topic of debate in recent years. Researchers have looked into the many ways that a switch to Medicare for All might change our lives, and one of those...
Healthcare Triage
Homicide and Firearms: Guns and Public Health Part 2
Let's be clear. The biggest thing people worry about with guns in the US is homicide. There are lots of ways to look at the data, and most don't make the US look very good. Prepare for a deep dive.
Healthcare Triage
Heart Disease Prevention Works, Even If You Have Bum Genes
Heart disease continues to be the number one killer in the United States. Because of that, billions of dollars are spent every year on medications that reduce your risk of disease and death. Compounding this problem, many of the risk...
Professor Dave Explains
Sulfa Drugs
With the birth of the pharmaceutical industry covered, it's time to investigate an early achievement of this industry: the development of antibiotics. This will be divided into two parts, so before we get to the famous penicillin, we...
Healthcare Triage
Video Games Don't Cause Violent Behavior
Everyone just knows that violence is on the rise, especially among kids. Everyone just knows that violent video games have something to do with it. Except violence isn't on the rise, as we showed in our "Sky isn't falling episode". And...
Healthcare Triage
Alcohol and Cancer and How We Think About Risk
Recently, there have been big, splashy headlines about how drinking ANY alcohol increases your risk of cancer. As usual, there's more to the story than the scary headline. Aaron looks at the studies that made all the news, and talks...
Healthcare Triage
Booze Isn't All Bad
While we have discussed the dangerous effects of alcohol abuse and misuse, that doesn't mean it's always bad. Besides being part of many complex and delicious beverages, there are any number of studies which show that alcohol is linked...
Brainwaves Video Anthology
Jennifer Drake - Psychological Benefits of Drawing
Jennifer Drake is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology with a minor in Statistics from Boston College in...
Nature League
Investigating Metabolism of Early Life - De-Natured
In this De-Natured segment of Nature League, Brit breaks down a recent scientific journal article about the beginnings of life on Earth. Article citation: G. Springsteen, J.R. Yerabolu, J. Nelson, C.J. Rhea, R. Krishnamurthy. Linked...
Psychology Unlocked
How to explain the results of Milgram's Obedience Experiment
This video outlines five factors which may have influenced the results of Milgram's landmark 1961 experiment.
Religion for Breakfast
Why Strict Religions Succeed
Across cultures, religious communities that expect more from their members thrive (or religious communities in which members face greater consequences for leaving). Meanwhile, lenient religious groups struggle to maintain membership. Why...
Healthcare Triage
Talking to Kids About Sex is a Good Thing
Parents should talk to their kids about sex. We've got data. This is Healthcare Triage News.
The Economist
Is male fertility in crisis?
Sperm counts have fallen by more than 50% in the past four decades. To understand what’s going wrong with men, we need to stop seeing fertility as a woman's problem