Interesting (Med) articles roundup!

Here are the top five most interesting/heartwarming/bizarre newspaper articles I stumbled across these past two weeks. Of course, they all have to do with medicine in some way or another.

5.  Robotic sperm

Huh? Well apparently German scientists have created a “remote control sperm biobot” using magnets. It’s a very um, unexpected use of nanotechnology but could have some real implications in the future. The hope is that these sperm could potentially be used to help fertilize individual eggs or even be controlled to help target drugs to specific parts of the body. A little weird to imagine but hey, fecal transplants aren’t glamorous and they have been shown to work. Also, Stephen Colbert did a funny bit about this on his show…. (he’s offering his own version)

4. Ever watch 16 and pregnant to feel a little better about yourself? Guilty. Well a new study says that the MTV show has done more than just boost self-esteem in viewers, it has reduced the teenage birth rate by nearly six percent. So now when anyone accuses you of watching too much trashy T.V., you can legitimately claim it’s an education experience. Do you think the connection sounds valid? 

3. Moving on to things a little more serious, the NYT published an interesting article a few days ago on the growing number of medical scribes in hospitals. They pretty much function as a doctor’s personal note taker, documenting everything so the physician can spend more quality time with a patient. It’s a growing trend and many pre-meds I knew took a year off to work as scribes. You get to form a quality relationship with an attending doctor and master a lot of difficult medical jargon. Plus, it feels pretty good to be needed in a hospital.

2. The New York Times is always an excellent source for health news and this submission is especially insightful in my opinion. Doctors google-ing patients? It never really occurred to me that physicians would do that but it makes sense. The submission is a really fascinating look into whether finding “extra” information about a patient via Google is an invasion of privacy or provides necessary information to aid a diagnosis/treatment. Is there a line? Decide for yourself:

1. It’s another submission and one that is pretty much guaranteed to bring a lump to your throat. Dr. Elena Miller, who is actually a graduate of Keck School of Medicine (whoop whoop!) and currently a resident in psychiatry at UCLA, was recently diagnosed with Stage IV acute lymphoblastic T-cell lymphoma. In the article she chronicles her experience from when she was diagnosed to the beginning of her treatment. Given the grave circumstances, it’s an extraordinarily positive article that doesn’t become overly sappy. She keeps it straightforward, factual and most importantly, sincere. I’m not sure I could sound so grateful if I was in her shoes.