Health and Science

Roberta McReynolds Updates: I rescued a fledging sparrow about a month ago. It had been attacked by a Scrub Jay and I literally snatched it away. Poor little thing was in shock and bleeding from her beak. I would have bet money that she was going to die within minutes. I wrapped her in a towel and warmed her up. After an hour she was still hanging in there. I found a box and lined it with more towels and tucked her inside, warming the outside of the box with one of those gizmos you heat in the microwave. She survived the night! more »

40 maps that explain outer space; For those interested in STEM education, there is much to ponder on an interesting site; Video clips accompany many of the Timeline items, bringing the history of WWI to life. The Edublogger, which serves as the community blog for Edublogs and CampusPress, is designed to help educational bloggers with emerging technologies; Companion piece to the Women's Adventures in Science biography series; Browse the Darwin Manuscripts Tree, a visual representation of his theories; Longform connects readers to new and classic non-fiction from around the web; Wix.com is one of the most popular website builders on the market ... and others. Enjoy! more »

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute study revealed that each cell in normal facial skin carries many thousands of mutations, mainly caused by exposure to sunlight. Around 25 per cent of skin cells in samples from people without cancer were found to carry at least one cancer-associated mutation. The mutations observed showed the patterns associated with the most common and treatable form of skin cancer linked to sun exposure, known as cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, rather than melanoma, a rarer and sometimes fatal form of skin cancer. more »

Drs. Groopman and Hartzband (also husband and wife) reveal that each of us has a 'medical mind,' a highly individual approach to weighing the risks and benefits of treatment. Are you a minimalist or a maximalist, a believer or a doubter, do you look for natural healing or the latest technology? Drs. Groopman and Hartzband explain how pitfalls in thinking and the way statistics are presented in pharmaceutical advertisements, the media, and even scientific reports can mislead all of us. Streaming at NCCIH and a YouTube at the Aspen Institute. more »