Researchers at the Université de Montréal analyzed the dreams of 331 subjects and found men have more nightmares about insects, being chased and physically attacked, and natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes. Women’s nightmares more often hinge on interpersonal conflict, featuring feelings of humiliation and rejection. Robert Stickgold, HMS professor of psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is quoted.
The number of children and young people on Colorado’s medical marijuana registry surged in 2013, according to the latest data from the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment. Sharon Levy, HMS assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, is quoted.
Women considering a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer often face a difficult decision: whether to remove their healthy breast as well. Karin Michels, associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is quoted.
Precise and easy ways to rewrite human genes could finally provide the tools that researchers need to understand and cure some of our most deadly genetic diseases. A new genome-engineering tool called CRISPR is giving scientists a precise way to delete and edit specific bits of DNA. Research by George Church, the Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics at HMS, is cited.
When it comes to returning the sense of hearing to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, technology is far from perfect. Hearing aids can feed back. And there are other problems, but this week there’s been a leap forward in one particular area: cochlear implants. Konstantina Stankovic, assistant professor of otology and laryngology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, was one of the leaders of the study.
Leave it to the tech set to tinker with something so perfect as the nap. Scientists who study sleep habits say napping makes people more alert and productive, while workers at tech startups have come to look forward to an afternoon snooze the way they do to a weekend hackathon. Jo Solet, assistant professor of medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance and Justin Lee, a PhD student studying health technology in the joint MIT-Harvard program, are quoted.
To avoid constantly checking email and Twitter in the middle of the night, a traditional alarm clock may be a better choice for the bedroom than a smartphone. Orfeu M. Buxton, assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is quoted.
