Health

You may be familiar with the structure of TED talks: inspiring, passionate people take the stage and share their ideas and insights with an engaged audience. But did you know that National Public Radio now hosts “The TED Radio Hour”? Each week, for one hour and with one theme, a…

As a way to sooth stress and ease tension, listening to music is a well established practice. For those at the end of life, the sound of music can ease pain and anxiety and connect the person to a more peaceful place. Kate Munger, the founder of Threshold Choirs, realized…

The numbers are staggering: according to national data from 2010, over 300,000 hip replacements are performed each year. Osteoarthritis is the leading cause, and an increasing number of these surgeries are performed on ever younger patients. Typically, metal or plastic replacements are used to substitute for ailing original hips but…

In a remote Himalayan mountain village in Nepal, Manisara and Durga, a couple married 50 years, struggled to maintain their rustic life.  After decades in the harsh sun, their vision was ruined through cataracts, leaving them unable to navigate and dependent on their family. Yet through the extraordinary efforts of…

The statistics are stark: 90% of people say that talking to loved ones about end of life medical decisions is important: but only 27% have done so.  As hard and awkward as it is to think about medical choices that will confront you or loved ones as death approaches, it’s…

More than 80% of those over 85 have age-related hearing loss. But a substantial portion of hard-of-hearing older individuals haven’t done anything to remedy the condition. Hearing aids are expensive, not covered by Medicare and seem to have stigma attached to them. Now, however, new technology-assisted personal sound amplification products…