This week in health, science and tech: why cell therapy might no longer be DIY, how an MRI factory is using the power of the sun to make life-saving devices while helping to save the environment, and the U.S. President writes about precision medicine. This weekend, catch up on what you might have missed from The Pulse and beyond.
There isn’t A cure for cancer. There are 7.4 billion.*
DIY is all the rage for Pinterest users and crafty hipsters, among whom ideas for “do it yourself” curtains, jewelry and wedding centerpieces have found a happy home.
Not so for PhDs and researchers, at least when it comes to those doing the life-saving work of cell therapy. This burgeoning life sciences field involves modifying a patient’s own cells to fight the world’s deadliest diseases, especially cancer. Despite an increased interest in personalized medicine, with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announcing major investments in partnerships across the U.S and the approval of the first CRISPR trial in humans, to date cell therapy has nearly been just that: DIY.
Teamwork, Commitment and Plenty of Sunlight Make Greener MRIs
It takes a lot of energy to make an MRI scanner. But in Florence, South Carolina, an MRI factory is using the power of the sun to make life-saving devices while helping to save the environment.
A new solar farm is being built around the 500,000-square-foot plant, managed by Dale Wolf. It produces over 900 superconducting magnets a year – a key component used in MRI machines the world over.
Barack Obama: Medicine’s next step
Boston Globe
Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Health care is always personal. As science and technology have advanced, it’s become possible to make it personalized as well, giving us the tools to better understand, prevent, and treat everyone’s individual health needs.
Kenya takes steps to save mothers’ lives, showing why better data matters
WHO
Credit: WHO
In 2013, Kenya’s Ministry of Health was faced with a debate over the alarming rate of women dying in childbirth: was the cause deep-rooted cultural values, or could lives be saved with policy interventions?
On one of the world’s largest rivers, floating clinics bring doctors and medicines to millions
Quartz India
Credit: Devjyot Ghoshal
It had been raining all morning but Debika Mikum was still waiting. About a dozen women stood with her, huddled under their umbrellas.
Chacha had seen them from afar. He deftly brought the starboard parallel to the slippery bank, as Sanjay Pegu, the wiry deckhand, flung the anchor ashore. From the other end of the vessel, another rope flew out. It was quickly tied to the remains of a dead tree.
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Más información: The Weekend Pulse: 7.4 billion cures for cancer, a solar farm for MRIs and personalized medicine progress