Rob Stein

Rob Stein appears in the following:

The Dread Factor: Why Ebola And 'Contagion' Scare Us So Much

Friday, August 22, 2014

Even just the word Ebola is kind of terrifying. Why? Hollywood has a lot to do with it. But Ebola outbreaks also have all the ingredients for what one psychologist calls the "dread factor."

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American Ebola Patients Leave Atlanta Hospital Healthy

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Two U.S. missionaries who caught the Ebola virus in Liberia have been discharged from an Atlanta hospital after fully recovering. They were the first known Ebola patients flown to the...

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One Woman's 'Pay It Forward' Moment Inspires 11 Hours Of Kindness

Thursday, August 21, 2014

At a drive-through Starbucks in St. Petersburg, Fla., a chain of generosity included hundreds of customers.

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Who Gets First Dibs On Transplanted Liver? Rules May Change

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Location, location, location too often trumps medical need, some doctors say. But another solution to making the distribution of scarce organs fairer worries some transplant surgeons and patients.

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With Men's Y Chromosome, Size Really May Not Matter

Monday, July 28, 2014

The string of genes that make a man a man used to be much bigger, and some geneticists say it may be wasting away. Back off, others say. Y has been stable — and crucial — for millennia.

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Do We Choose Our Friends Because They Share Our Genes?

Monday, July 14, 2014

You and your friends may have more than music and movies in common. Friends typically have more genetic similarities than strangers, researchers say. That may have evolutionary advantages.

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Individual Conscience And Society Collide Over Contraception

Friday, July 04, 2014

Contraception is the latest in a long line of often bitter history of balancing the right of conscience with the needs of society. (This piece first aired on Feb. 16, 2012 on All Things Considered.)

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Easy Method For Making Stem Cells Was Too Good To Be True

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

A prestigious scientific journal Wednesday took the unusual step of retracting some high-profile research that had generated international excitement about stem cell research.

The British scientific journal Nature retracted two papers published in January by scientists at the Riken research institute in Japan and at Harvard Medical School ...

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3-D Printing Lends Doctors A Hand, Building Tailor-Made Body Parts

Monday, June 23, 2014

Medicine is making use of 3-D printing more and more. Researchers are creating three-dimensional models of body parts to help plan surgeries; they're even creating replacement body pa...

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Warnings Against Antidepressants For Teens May Have Backfired

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

After the Food and Drug Administration said that antidepressants could spur suicidal thinking in teens, doctors prescribed the drugs less often. The change may have led to more suicides.

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Father Devises A 'Bionic Pancreas' To Help Son With Diabetes

Monday, June 16, 2014

Insulin monitors and pumps are getting better, but a person with diabetes will tell you they're far from ideal. Potential solutions include one that delivers two hormones to control blood sugar.

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Teen Smoking Hits A 22-Year Low, But Other Tobacco Uses Rise

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Cigarette smoking among U.S. high school students has dropped to the lowest level in 22 years, federal health officials reported Thursday.

The percentage of students who reported smoking a cigarette at least one day in the last 30 days fell to 15.7 percent in 2013, according to the National ...

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Should HPV Testing Replace The Pap Smear?

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

The recent FDA approval of an HPV test to screen for cervical cancer has ignited debate among doctors. Some say the viral test will catch cancers earlier. Others warn it increases needless biopsies.

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3rd U.S. Case Raises More Questions About MERS Virus

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Federal health officials reported over the weekend that the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, had spread from one person to another for the first time in the U.S.

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Deadly MERS Virus Detected In Florida

Monday, May 12, 2014

The second U.S. case of a dangerous new virus from the Middle East has been found in Florida, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

The patient is a health care worker from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, who developed symptoms May 1 while traveling to Orlando, Fla., to ...

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Keep Or Kill Last Lab Stocks Of Smallpox? Time To Decide, Says WHO

Friday, May 09, 2014

"If smallpox is outlawed, only outlaws will have smallpox," says one NIH virologist. Others say keeping vials of deadly virus just invites a horrific accident or theft. WHO is about to vote — again.

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First American Case Of MERS Reported In Indiana

Friday, May 02, 2014

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the first case of Middle Eastern Respiratory Virus, or MERS, has been confirmed in the U.S. A health care worker in Indiana who rec...

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'Provocative' Research Turns Skin Cells Into Sperm

Thursday, May 01, 2014

Scientists were able to make immature sperm cells. If they can make the sperm viable, researchers could help men who thought they'd never have kids. But the findings also raise ethical questions.

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Experimental Technique Coaxes Muscles Destroyed By War To Regrow

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

By surgically transplanting material from pig bladders into the injured legs of several men, doctors prompted muscles to heal by growing and nurturing fresh, healthy cells.

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Facing Execution Drug Shortage, States Struggle To Get Cocktail Right

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

A botched execution in Oklahoma is only the latest issue since states started having trouble obtaining the drugs used to execute inmates. They've been trying new combinations and new ...

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