A study of people’s ability to love … … To celebrate Valentine’s Day, quarterly DVD magazine Wholphin has released a short film documenting an experiment by Stanford neuroscientists to determine if it’s possible for one person to love more than another person can. In the film, titled The Love Competition, researchers at the Stanford Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological […]

Great Manager Profile: Kevin Souza Kevin Souza is not new to managing people. His first experience was 25 years ago as a manager of a basic science research lab in endocrinology. Kevin Souza Now, in his current role as the assistant dean of Medical Education in the UCSF School of Medicine, he is responsible for unifying […]

Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Efforts Result in Record-Breaking Recoveries Totaling Nearly $4.1 Billion Largest Sum Ever Recovered in Single Year WASHINGTON –Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today released a new report showing that the government’s health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts recovered […]

Ancient objects shed light on how people once understood their bodies A recent post on the Wellcome Collection blog examines how ancient artifacts, such as this Etruscan votive offering, can provide fascinating insights into cultures that existed thousands of years ago and how people at this time understood their bodies. Catherine Walker writes: The knowledge of what was going on […]

Finding a Role for Chocolate in a Healthy Diet If that trove of Valentine’s Day truffles has your conscience heavy, it’s time to take a serious look at the health benefits of chocolate. Since ancient Mayans guzzled the first molten drink (then, a bitter, chocolate soup) almost 2,000 years ago, we’ve learned quite a bit about […]

Chicago as urban microcosm Professor studies Second City to paint detailed portrait of American cities “Neighborhoods have legacies,” said Robert Sampson, author of “Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect.” “Crime and poverty are durable over long periods of time. From the 1960s onwards, cities went through amazing social change — riots, crime […]

Study advises prioritizing personal relationships over work success to boost happiness Here’s something to reflect on this Valentine’s Day. A recent study shows that Americans’ deep-seated regrets most often involve personal relationship mishaps, not missed career opportunities. In the study (subscription required), researchers surveyed 500 U.S. adults about their biggest disappointments in life and then analyzed their […]

Happy Valentine’s Day: Picture of heart-shaped heart muscle nuclei For your Valentine’s Day enjoyment, check out these heart-shaped heart muscle nucleifrom our Stanford Medicine Flickr photo stream. The image was made by Scott Metzler, PhD, a researcher who studies the early development of the heart. And, if this image makes your heart go pitter patter, we’ve got another for […]

Can Viagra treat childhood lymphatic disorder? A surprising potential therapy for severe, hard-to-treat malformations of the lymphatic system is now being studied at the Stanford School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital: researchers have a study under way on the benefits of Viagra, a drug best known for treating erectile dysfunction though it has other uses as […]

Vantage point: Research cuts would slow medical advances Because of our national investment in basic biomedical research through the National Institutes of Health, the United States is the world leader in discoveries in the life sciences; Americans have benefited from new treatments and cures that have improved their health and prolonged their lives. Indeed, we […]