The first recorded cases of cancer show how the Ancient Egyptians used cauterisation (using red-hot instruments to burn off tissue and seal off wounds) to destroy tumours and to treat a variety of infections, diseases and bleeding lesions. Until the mid-18th century, surgery was the only effective option for addressing several conditions. But it was […]
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Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Debate Over Alternative Medicine
The Laidlers’ story is a microcosm of the changing debate over so-called alternative medicine and its cousin, integrative medicine. In 2007, Americans spent $2.9 billion on homeopathic medicine, a treatment based on the belief that minuscule amounts of what causes symptoms in a healthy person will alleviate symptoms in someone who is ill. From nutritional supplements […]
Posted inBooks, First Chapters, Nonfiction, Story
Falling in Love with Words: The Secret Life of a Lexicographer
Merriam-Webster lexicographer Kory Stamper describes how she fell in love with words and offers a peek into the complex process of making dictionaries.
Posted inEditor's Pick
An Alternative-Medicine Believer’s Journey Back to Science
How the parents of two autistic sons found—and lost—faith in the alternative medicine movement.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Author Porochista Khakpour on New Age Treatments for Lyme Disease, and ‘Mind Over Matter’
As someone who’s twice been diagnosed with Lyme Disease, I’ve read an awful lot about it. The more I read, the more confused I am; for every long, boring article about antibiotic treatments, there are two or three about widely varying alternative cures. The Last Illusion author Porochista Khakpour has been living with Lyme for […]
Posted inNonfiction
Xenu’s Paradox: The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard and the Making of Scientology
Alec Nevala-Lee, author of Astounding, a forthcoming book on the history of science fiction, digs into the writing career of L. Ron Hubbard, gaining new insights into the life of the controversial founder of dianetics and the origins and nature of Scientology itself.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Unprepared: The Difficulty of Getting a Prescription for a Drug That Effectively Prevents HIV Infection
When Spenser Mestel tries to get a prescription for Truvada in Iowa City, he discovers that medical breakthroughs are only one small part of HIV prevention.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Cyberchondria: D.I.Y. Diagnosis in Overdrive
In researching his chronic headache on the web, veteran journalist Barry Newman takes a terrifying walk down the Via Dolorosa of digital self-diagnosis.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
Becoming One of the World’s 65 Million Refugees
Majid Hussain keeps having to run.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
Liar: A Memoir
“Your memories are already foggy and scrambled at times. And then, they may not even be there anymore.”
