Health & Science
In her new book, New York Times best-selling author Maria Goodavage explores the cutting-edge science behind how dogs are able to detect disease and help people who suffer from a wide range of physical and mental health conditions.
Lake Michigan, the immense body of fresh water whose shimmering beauty convinced Northwestern’s founders that this was the place to build the University, has been under threat since the early 20th century. Northwestern researchers, students and alumni are discovering solutions for water quality issues and climate change challenges in the Great Lakes region.
Brent Chase knows the pain and helplessness of watching a loved one go through a physically and emotionally damaging autistic meltdown. Chase’s younger brother, Alec, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when he was 3 years old.
Last summer international aid workers began descending from Soviet-era helicopters into the forests, mountains and villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu region, setting up treatment centers and laboratories, and donning hazmat suits as they treated people sick with the Ebola virus. The workers brought computers, lab equipment, vaccine doses and anything else that supported epidemiology, data and patient management, and infection prevention and control.
Northwestern professors Brian Uzzi and Adam Waytz and alumnus Mark Knickrehm weigh in on the promise and peril of artificial intelligence.
Champion triathlete and medical researcher Jacquie Godbe is helping develop and improve stem cell treatments.
South Asians account for 60% of the world’s heart disease patients, and that trend continues for the 5.4 million South Asian immigrants in the United States. South Asians — the second–fastest growing minority group in the country — have the highest death rate from heart disease compared with other ethnic groups.
Genetic mutations — inherited from our parents and carried from birth — can increase our risk of developing diseases from schizophrenia to cancer. But environmental factors also play a critical role in determining who develops certain maladies and who doesn’t.
Rosanna Hertz, author of Random Families, interviewed more than 350 children, their parents and gamete donors to explore how they used cultural narratives about genes and genetics to understand their relationship to their immediate families and donor networks.
Northwestern psychologist Vijay Mittal says human behavior is made up of three primary components: emotion, cognition and motor activity. By examining motor behavior as both an early signal and a treatment tool, Mittal hopes to stop psychosis in its tracks.
