Sunday, April 7, 2019

Are we ready for an implant that can control our moods?

Plus: Dangers of a bad diet
Christina Chung for NPR

What If We Could Change Our Moods With The Flick Of A Switch?

Imagine if you could change your mental state with a device. A new technology called deep brain stimulation offer that promise. Electrodes implanted in the brain can introduce electric pulses to specific brain regions that can affect our emotions. The technology is approved to treat a few neurological disorders and it’s being tested out for mood disorders.

Read our interview with neuroethicist James Giordano about the ethical, social and cultural questions raised by this powerful new technology.

Listen to Invisibilia’s 'The Remote Control Brain' for one woman’s story of what it was like to be able to change her mood by adjusting the settings on a device.
 
Kayana Szymczak for NPRR

In The (Near) Future, A Computer May Read Your Mammogram Instead Of A Doctor

When computer scientist Regina Barzilay was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, she realized how how low-tech medicine still is. "It almost felt that we were in a different century," she says.

Now she and others are developing computer algorithms to revolutionize mammography and breast cancer management. And artificial intelligence that can detect signs of breast cancer could be coming to an exam room within a few years.

Read more about how the technology works and the pros and cons of letting a computer take the role of doctor.

More: It's not just mammograms. AI is coming to medicine in a big way. Sometimes even doctors don't understand how a computer makes its diagnosis. Learn about the potential pitfalls of "black box" algorithms.
 
John D. Buffington/Getty Imagese

Bad Diets May Be More Lethal Than Smoking

About 11 million deaths a year are linked to poor diet around the globe. This makes it the leading cause of death in many countries, according to new research analyzing data from 195 countries.

What's driving this? As a planet we don't eat enough healthy foods including whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. At the same time, we consume too too much sugar, salt and processed meat.

Read on to learn what people eat in the countries that had the healthiest diets.
 

More of this week’s health stories from NPR

A lot of us miss an important spot when we slather on sunscreen

Antibiotics in our beef? Some farmers say 'No'

Is consulting your doctor through an app a good idea?

We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism on Shots and follow us on Twitter at @NPRHealth.

Your Shots editor,
Carmel Wroth
 

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