DIY Diagnosis
from Big Picture Science Hosted by Big Picture Science
ENCORE Got aches and pains? Critters in the Cretaceous would have been sympathetic. A new study reveals that painful arthritis plagued a duck-billed dinosaur. Scientists impressively diagnosed the animal’s condition without a house call by examining its 70 million-year old bones. The technology we use for health diagnoses are becoming so sophisticated, some people are prompted to bypass doctors and do it themselves. Meet a man who had his genome sequenced and then had all 70 gigabytes delivered directly to him so that he could gauge his genetic health. Also, practitioners who are trying to improve cognitive function using a battery and a few wires. Find out the possible risks and benefits of DIY brain stimulation. Guests: Jennifer Anne - Recent graduate, University of Manchester, studies injuries and diseases in dinosaurs. Carl Zimmer - Science writer, author. National correspondent for STAT, an online magazine that reports on the frontiers of science and medicine. His weekly column “Matter,” appears in the New York Times. Peter Simpson-Young - A graduate student at the University of Sydney studying neuroscience. Anna Wexler - Neuroethicist and PhD candidate in the History, Anthropology, Science, Technology and Society program at MIT.
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