- Blood: Blood banks sell donated blood to hospitals for up to $300 per pint. They will even claim to have a high need despite the fact that they have more blood than they can sell to local hospitals. They sell the extra blood to blood banks that aren't getting enough donors.
- The Bad Show: We only hear about Milgrim's first experiment. He actually conducted his obedience experiment over and over again while manipulating different variables, such as the number of experimenters in the room and the dialogue he used when conducting the experiment. EVERY SINGLE TIME he conducted the experiment, he got different results. When he told the subjects that they must continue with the experiment, they have no other choice - 0% of the subjects obeyed him.
- Happy Birthday Dr. Sacks: Oliver Sacks started off working in a research lab. He wanted to be a scientist. Because he had dropped his notes, destroying all of his data, and because he lost his sample of worm myelin that he collected for his studies - he was removed from his position in the lab and placed in a position at a nursing home. That is how his career began.
- Rodney Versus Death: The rabies infection is one of the most deadly infections in the world. It travels up nerves, from where the bite occurred to the brain, at about two centimeters per day. Once the infection progresses and flu-like symptoms materialize, death is inevitable. Some researchers believe that the infection doesn't actually do damage to the brain. When the infection reaches the brain, excitotoxicty happens, which means neurons become overactive. Another notable fact is that when autopsies are done on patients who died of rabies, it is often found that the disease is no longer present. The doctor on this Radiolab episode hypothesized that the infection kills the patient before the immune system has a chance to respond, but if kept alive long enough, the immune system can kill the disease. One of his patients was in the advanced stages of the disease. He did something that had never been done before. He induced a coma and put the patient on life support so that she could stay alive long enough for her body to fight the disease. After two weeks, he brought her back from the coma and she was in a paralyzed state. Day by day she started to make progress. She was the first person ever to live through the disease. - However, some researchers feel different about her recovery. A study was done on rabies and it was found that some rabies-free people have rabies antibodies in their blood. Is it possible that some people have contracted the virus and have lived through the disease? There is debate about this, but some researchers believe that this is possible and the particular case of the coma-induced girl is a fluke. The girl healed herself, not the doctor. - Back on the other hand, before this method was used, there was a 100% mortality rate among rabies victims in advanced stages for all of recorded history whereas now the mortality rate is 80%.
aug 12 2013 ∞
dec 29 2013 +