Word of Mouth

A number of major newspapers have stopped the presses in recent years. Meanwhile, community journalism sites have sprung up from Seattle to Springfield.

A number of major newspapers have stopped the presses in recent years. Meanwhile, community journalism sites have sprung up from Seattle to Springfield.

Last week, the FDA approved the first self-navigating communications robot for use in hospitals. The RP-Vita which stands for remote presence virtual independent telemedicine assistant – was created by iRobot and In-Touch. The FDA sanction for the self-guided robot could mark a new era of robotic care in hospitals here in the United States.  Joining us with more on how RP-Vita works is Marcio Macedo, Director of Product Management for iRobot’s remote presence business unit.

Last week, the FDA approved the first self-navigating communications robot for use in hospitals. The RP-Vita which stands for remote presence virtual independent telemedicine assistant – was created by iRobot and In-Touch. The FDA sanction for the self-guided robot could mark a new era of robotic care in hospitals here in the United States.  Joining us with more on how RP-Vita works is Marcio Macedo, Director of Product Management for iRobot’s remote presence business unit.

Math has had a good run. Its virtues were extolled during the presidential debates and in endless news stories calculated fiscal scenarios.  New York Times blogger Nate Silver was pilloried by math, then vindicated. Still, mathematics and the data-driven statistics that guide decisions from Wall Street to the dugout to your insurance rates are woefully misunderstood. “Statistics cannot be any smarter than the people who use them,” writes Dartmouth professor Charles Wheelan in his new book, Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data. Wheelan uses vivid examples—and blessedly little math—to teach us about the promises and pitfalls of data and probability.

Math has had a good run. Its virtues were extolled during the presidential debates and in endless news stories calculated fiscal scenarios.  New York Times blogger Nate Silver was pilloried by math, then vindicated. Still, mathematics and the data-driven statistics that guide decisions from Wall Street to the dugout to your insurance rates are woefully misunderstood. “Statistics cannot be any smarter than the people who use them,” writes Dartmouth professor Charles Wheelan in his new book, Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data. Wheelan uses vivid examples—and blessedly little math—to teach us about the promises and pitfalls of data and probability.

Last summer, a team of scientists and filmmakers from Japan’s National Museum and the Discovery Channel captured the first-ever video of a giant squid in its natural habitat off the coast of Japan. The team recently released a clip of the video, which has gone viral on Facebook. As long as humans have navigated the seas, the idea that these fierce and slippery creatures are lurking just beneath us has evoked fascination and fear. Their elusiveness plays into our love of the chase, which probably explains why every development in the world of giant squid science is big news. Wendy Williams is author of “Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid.” we spoke with her in 2011 when her book came out about what it was that inspired her particular devotion to the squid.

Last summer, a team of scientists and filmmakers from Japan’s National Museum and the Discovery Channel captured the first-ever video of a giant squid in its natural habitat off the coast of Japan. The team recently released a clip of the video, which has gone viral on Facebook. As long as humans have navigated the seas, the idea that these fierce and slippery creatures are lurking just beneath us has evoked fascination and fear. Their elusiveness plays into our love of the chase, which probably explains why every development in the world of giant squid science is big news. Wendy Williams is author of “Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid.” we spoke with her in 2011 when her book came out about what it was that inspired her particular devotion to the squid.

The Tuareg have been fighting the government of Mali on and off for more than a century. Their rebellion intensified when the fiercely independent Tuareg allied themselves with Islamic Jihadists to fight the government and made huge territorial gains in the north of the country.This week, the French launched a military intervention in Mali- once a French colony. The U.S. State Department is also considering limited involvement, including logistical support and training for intervention forces in the region. The Tuareg, however, just want to continue eeking out their lives in the desert.Filmmaker Ron Wyman tracked Bombino down in Burkina Faso, where he was living in exile. That was the beginning of a creative collaboration that produced the iTunes best-selling album, Agadez and the feature film, Agadez: The Music and the Rebellion. We spoke with Ron in March about discovering Bombino, and we thought hearing him again would provide a timely window into a little known tribe of nomads who are now in the news.Al Arabiya unpacks current French relations in Mali here:http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/01/14/260337.htmlIn addition, NPR's Michele Kelemen explains potential U.S. involvement in Mali:http://www.npr.org/2013/01/14/169363297/u-s-considers-involvement-in-mali-as-extremists-seize-territory

If you think it’s difficult to get enough sleep in an age of 24 hours news cycles and the allure of Facebook surfing, consider how hard it must be without the sun…or gravity. The first of many studies on the Mars500 Project have been released, and it documented the sleeping habits of five men isolated on earth for 520 days.

The steadfast fixture of arcades and bars has dwindled as the gaming industry has moved towards handheld devices and home consoles. Only one pinball production company remains. However, Jack Guarnieri is looking to revive the once uber-popular gaming machine.

Here’s another sign that personal technology has penetrated nearly every part of our lives – Boston Globe Health Reporter and blogger Deborah Kotz recently wrote about a newly recognized medical phenomenon called “dystextia”.  Basically, what happened was a twenty-five year old pregnant woman went  in for her routine prenatal visit – her husband texted her and said “okay, when’s the due date”, and the woman just gave back a gibberish message. Here’s an example of one of their exchanges: the expectant husband texted – “so what’s the deal?” His wife responded: “every where thinging days nighing. some is where”. Whereas many of us might see this back and forth as a case of bad auto-correction, the husband of the ersatz texter suspected something much more serious. I think he took her to the hospital, and sure enough she was having a stroke. The neurologist there wanted people to know that if you do start to see very strange nonsensical messages it could be as sign that there’s a real medical emergency. Incredibly, the woman’s doctor failed to pick up on the more traditional verbal signs of stroke because she was also suffering from larangitis – and her voice was hoarse.  It’s a sign of how pervasive cell-phones and instant messaging has become – that changes to patterns in our texted communications can become signals for something more.  The phenomenon already has a name: “Dystextia”. Doctors had already been seeing “dystextia” with other medical conditions. First of all, post-stroke: a lot of people post-stroke don’t have the full mobility in their hands so they may not be able to type correctly the words they are trying to get out. They also say that it could occur with somebody who’s having a bad migraine. If you are getting these erratic texts from someone, it would pay to call them on the phone and say: “Hey, is everything okay?” That’s Boston Globe Health Reporter and blogger Deborah Kotz. Of course, some people commenting on her article brought up another condition that might result in nonsensical, error-prone text messages: intoxication. 

Abby Goodnough, writer for The New York Times, talks about the incredible opportunity that Martha Keochareon afforded medical students at Holyoke Community College. Martha, a nurse, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and offered herself for instruction in caring.