First, for readers wanting more information on ALS, the subject of one of my previous pieces, let me refer you to an outstanding article by Dr. Karen Ring of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a champion science writer. Now: stem cell decision-making? Having no conscious will of their own, stem cells of course cannot “decide” anything.
Imagine a high school, with 1,000 students. But all of them are deathly sick; their limbs are failing, the muscles growing weak; they are all becoming paralyzed, and will die in 3-5 years. Now imagine thirty-two such schools, with everybody diagnosed with ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease. This is no horror
A member of the California stem cell program’s board of directors, and San Francisco County Supervisor Jeff Sheehy is a tall, broad-shouldered man, with more than a passing resemblance to a young John Wayne. He has a daughter, Michele, age eleven; her eyes just shine when she looks at her Dad. So what is the
My wife Gloria tries to only use our home stairs twice daily: coming down in the morning, and climbing back up at night. You would understand why if you could look inside her knees. A healthy joint has an internal cushion of smooth white cartilage: Gloria’s is mostly gone. As a result, her leg bones
When you first speak to Rosie Barrero, it is difficult to believe she is blind. Her eyes follow you as you speak—but she is guided by hearing, not sight. As she puts it, “I cannot go outside the house by myself.” As a child, Rosie lost night vision, and was called “nearsighted” by a school nurse.
I had planned that our next story would be about ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease. But I must hold up on that for a week or so—I called some people doing amazing work on it, and I want to interview them first. Instead, let’s take a trip to the Valley of Death. In the world of
Imagine if you went home from work and found one of your family members—your wife, husband, maybe your child—changing into somebody else? Sound like one of those 1950’s monster movies, “I Married a Monster from Outer Space”? Unfortunately, this is grim reality. This year, one in ten thousand Americans will be diagnosed with Huntington’s disease
As a former professional diver for Marine World in Redwood City, California, I naturally love the animals of land and sea. It was a delight to find a little-known fact about Koko, a female gorilla who “speaks” with sign language. When Koko could not get pregnant, Stanford scientist Dr. Bertha Chen was called in to
That silent hurricane is chronic disease. Its winds will never subside, its torrential blasts will never stop; it is here forever—unless we cure it.
