Stella Falk was a believer in the healing power of sleep. Her children jokingly called their home “the house of sacred sleep.” She was also fascinated by dreams, and loved to tell hers at the family dinner table. Her husband would shake his head and say, “Stella, you have such an interesting night life.” Years…
The version of the coronavirus that surfaced in Britain late last year was shocking for many reasons. It came just as vaccines had offered a glimpse of the end of the pandemic, threatening to dash those hopes. It was far more contagious than earlier variants, leading to a swift increase in hospitalizations. And perhaps most…
There is no timetable for grief, but there are ways of coping with it during each emotional stage. If you experienced a loss during the pandemic, how did you address your feelings and work through them? Were there books, tools, therapeutic outlets or websites that you found particularly helpful? Did you surround yourself with other…
Dr. Mehl, 73, the son of European immigrants who escaped the Holocaust, grew up in Brooklyn and spent his entire 50-year career at N.Y.U., where he could often be found in the hallway kibitzing with lab technicians, cafeteria workers or security guards. Colleagues referred to him as the Mayor of N.Y.U. He could also be…
Most people aren’t particularly fond of needles. But to a significant number of people, the fear of needles goes beyond merely inducing anxiety into a more dangerous area, in which the fear prevents them from seeking out needed medical care. And as the world’s hopes of returning to a post-pandemic normal rest largely on people’s…
It was my first visit to Romania’s Southern Carpathian Mountains in 2018, and I was standing beside a derelict sheepfold high above the Dambovita Valley. To the east, the imposing limestone cliffs of Piatra Craiului, or Kings’ Rock, towered overhead. All around me was a panorama of deep valleys, soaring mountains and the ever-present forest.…
As Mr. Vilsack said, “The time has come for us to transform the food system in this country in an accelerated way.” Early in the pandemic, when most businesses and entertainment venues were forced to close, toilet paper was not the only commodity stripped from market shelves. The country was suddenly faced with a shortage…
Previous studies conducted in hospitals reported that COVID-19 patients presented with unusual skin rashes. This study, which is published in the British Journal of Dermatology, analyzed information provided by 336,847 individuals in the community who used the COVID Symptom Study app. Skin rashes were more common in adults with a positive COVID-19 test result than…
When SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, infects a human cell, it quickly begins to replicate by seizing the cell’s existing metabolic machinery. The infected cells churn out thousands of viral genomes and proteins while halting the production of their own resources. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the Broad…
Lemurs can use their sense of smell to locate fruit hidden more than 50 feet away in the forest–but only when the wind blows the fruit’s aroma toward them, according to a study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. “This is the first time research has demonstrated that primates can track a distant…