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Go on an adventure into unexpected corners of the health and science world each week with award-winning host Maiken Scott. The Pulse takes you behind the doors of operating rooms, into the lab with some of the world's foremost scientists, and back in time to explore life-changing innovations. The Pulse delivers stories in ways that matter to you, and answers questions you never knew you had.
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We hear all the time about the joys of motherhood — the incomparable sense of love, the magic of watching your kids discover the world, the pride and fulfillment of seeing them grow. But motherhood can also be a grind. These days, moms are expected not only to care for their kids, but to grow their careers — all while juggling housework, swimming l…
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Rediscovering America's War on Bad Posture
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In January 1995, the New York Times Magazine published a bombshell story with the headline: "THE GREAT IVY LEAGUE NUDE POSTURE PHOTO SCANDAL." The article revealed that, from the 1940s through the 1960s, elite colleges had taken naked photos of thousands of freshmen, including future luminaries like George Bush, Bob Woodward, Meryl Streep, and Hill…
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When medical mistakes happen, patients and their families often find themselves at a loss trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. Something bad happened. And then, communication drops; there's no real explanation, and no apology. Suddenly, everybody seems on guard. Health care providers can often feel bound by an imposed cone of silence that'…
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Every day, we hear about countless environmental threats — from air pollution and microplastics, to deforestation and global warming. And a lot of us feel overwhelmed by the scale of these problems, and helpless to enact global big-picture solutions. But small, everyday decisions matter too — and they add up. How you do your laundry, how warm or co…
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Over the past few decades, Latinos have become the largest racial or ethnic minority in the United States, making up nearly 20 percent of the country's population. Despite that, many Latinos feel alienated by our medical system, due to cultural and language barriers, and a lack of Latino physicians — and those barriers can have a real impact on the…
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Boredom in the Age of Information Overload
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It sneaks up on us while we're sitting in traffic, or waiting at the doctor's office, or doing our taxes — boredom, that restless feeling of dissatisfaction that arises when we harbor "the desire for desires," as Leo Tolstoy said. At the same time, we're living in an age of never-ending stimulation, all at our fingertips — texting, social media, 24…
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On April 8, a swath of North America will be treated to a rare and spectacular sight — a total solar eclipse; in some places, the first in more than a century, and the last for at least another 20 years. The path of totality, where it's possible to see the moon completely block out the sun, stretches in a narrow ribbon from Mexico, through Texas, a…
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Identity's a complicated thing — a mixture of nurture and nature, ethnicity, gender, culture, conscious decisions, coincidences, and more. In many ways, though, who we think we are boils down to the stories we tell ourselves; stories based on our origins, our families, and how we came to be. But what happens when those stories change? When we disco…
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It's been four years since COVID-19 struck, transforming our modern world in ways we'd never seen before — and we're still processing the aftershocks. The pandemic exposed fault lines lurking beneath the surface of our everyday lives — friendships and bonds that weren't as strong as we thought; political rifts that turned into chasms; shifts in our…
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Know the signs of depression. Recognize symptoms of anxiety. Pay attention to your friend's changing moods. There's been a push to raise mental health awareness for decades, and now, the topic is everywhere. It's leading the charts on social media sites, and everybody from celebrities to politicians to sports superstars are talking about it more op…
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In 1944, a brilliant, young Harvard physics student named Ted Hall was recruited to work on the super-secret mission that had already assembled the country's top scientists: the Manhattan Project. Soon, Hall was on his way to Los Alamos, where he worked on the implosion mechanism for the nuclear bomb. As the project started to succeed, Hall became …
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If you're training to become a physician, your first patient is usually dead. In fact, "first patient" is what med students call the human cadavers that they work on in anatomy class — when they first learn to make careful incisions, and lay eyes on the beautiful intricacies of bone, muscle, blood vessels, and organs that make our bodies work. Huma…
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You can feel it coming on — your face flushes hot, maybe your fists clench, your heartbeat speeds up and blood pressure rises. It's rage — and it can go from zero to red-hot in a matter of seconds. Best-case scenario, it disappears just as fast. Worst-case scenario — it completely takes over. It's normal to feel angry when you or somebody else has …
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It can show up as a spark or a lightning bolt; a glance or a touch; an easy rapport or butterflies in your stomach. Attraction — it's a feeling we know when we experience it, but we're often not sure exactly what fuels it. Is it about looks or personality? Psychology or chemistry? Instant fireworks or long-term compatibility? On this episode, we ex…
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Medical records are an important part of health care. They create a history of past issues, test results, and medications. They paint a picture of somebody's general health. Patients now have more access than ever before to their records, and these changes have come with some growing pains — like receiving test results straight from the lab, before…
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Inside Facebook: A Conversation with Jeff Horwitz
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After covering the 2016 U.S. presidential election, reporter Jeff Horwitz knew that "something really weird was going on," that social media sites, especially Facebook, had played a role in shaping the election. But how — exactly? In his new book, "Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Harmful Secrets," Horwitz details his chase …
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Twenty years ago, a group of college sophomores created a website that would end up changing the world — fundamentally altering how we connect with other people, how much we know about each other, and how we curate our existence. That website was Facebook. In the years since, Facebook quickly grew from a quirky site for college students to a global…
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When Healing Happens But We Don't Know Why
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More than a third of Americans use complementary and alternative medicine, ranging from acupuncture to herbalism, Ayurveda to homeopathy. But despite its growing popularity, complementary and alternative medicine remains, for the most part, outside the Western medical mainstream — regarded by some as fringe, and by others as straight-up quackery. D…
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Humans crave certainty — in science and politics, in our lives and our leaders, in our decisions and our futures. We find comfort in knowing the facts, and we fear the murky unknown. In the age of information, we've grown increasingly unnerved by uncertainty and do everything we can to mitigate that anxiety. We do research online, play out scenario…
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We're in a major technological revolution where artificial intelligence, gaming, and virtual reality allow us to create and enter totally new spaces and have new experiences there.In these virtual worlds, we can reinvent ourselves, connect with people around the world, or take on new challenges and adventures. But as these worlds grow bigger, more …
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Why We Love and Hate Exercising — And How to Do It Either Way
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We all know that exercise is good for us — for both our bodies and our minds — but motivating yourself to hit the gym, take a run, or even go for a walk sometimes feels like the hardest thing in the world. There are constant rebuttals that arise in our minds: We're too busy. We're too tired. We need a break — we'll start next week. At the same time…
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It's the goosebumps you get at the crescendo of your favorite song; the stupefying wonder that comes with witnessing a birth or a death; the astonishing mystery we feel when gazing at the vast night sky. This is awe — a complex, often overwhelming emotion that can elicit everything from pleasure and connectedness to a crawling sense of uncertainty.…
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We think of life and death as clear cut — you're alive or you're not; your heart's beating or it isn't; your brain functions or it doesn't. But when you look a bit deeper, both on a biological level, and in terms of people's experiences, the border where life ends and death begins starts to look less firm, leading to questions about what comes next…
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Lots of things can get in the way of taking care of your health, catching medical issues early on, and getting treatment. Navigating insurance woes, trouble scheduling appointments, big medical bills — but also broader issues like lack of access, distrust in the medical system, and language barriers can stand in the way of patient care. On this epi…
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Uncovering the Inner Workings of the Oceans
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What comes to mind when you think of the ocean? Maybe a day at the beach — swimming in the waves, snorkeling through coral reefs, fishing, surfing, and sunsets that kiss the blue horizon. But Earth's oceans are more than all of that; they're our planet's defining feature, its largest ecosystem, the original source of all life, and, according to phy…
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