A pharma revolution is afoot: biosimilars. They’re like generics, except for more complex biologic drugs that can’t exactly be replicated… think injectables, used in cancer treatments, that often require a provider to administer them. Last week, a federal advisory committee handed down its recommendations on the very first application for a drug of this kind in the U.S. Elana Gordon was there and brings us this report on what many are calling an historic move.

According to the lead science writer for the website FiveThirtyEight.com, every time you fly, you trash the planet. Pulse host Maiken Scott sits down with Christie Aschwanden to discuss the damage air travel does to the environment and what we can do to mitigate it.

Ever pass a hospital employee on the street (or on line at Starbucks) wearing their brightly colored “scrubs”? Ever wonder if they should be doing that…wearing them out into the world, where the risk of infecting others with the germs on  them is high?  Maiken Scott went out in search of whether or not that’s a good idea.

Every year around this time—right in the middle of cold and flu season—parents with young kids seriously dread “daycare syndrome.” That’s the revolving door of illnesses that forces parents to call in sick to work. Taunya English reports on the scourge of daycare families.

Learning science can be complicated, and students often use graphs and other tools to understand complex problems. But what if using these visual tools isn’t an option? This week in our series Patient Files, we hear from a legally blind student who says that you don’t always have to see what you’re learning in order to understand it.

Also on this week’s show, eating and crying in the bathroom at work, how FitBits can cure some deep societal ills (or end up in your underwear drawer), and a new twist in the long and winding road to stop smoking.

We hear about cancer risks all the time. Smoking, of course, terrible diets, alcohol, vices – and of course, your family history. But a recent study suggests that a big part of getting cancer relies on chance – random genetic mistakes or mutations gone wrong. So what does this mean for our cancer prevention habits? Physician and former Philadelphia health commissioner Don Schwarz joins us this week to explain how we should process the message.

Is Philadelphia the greenest city in America? Several years ago, Mayor Michael Nutter set a lofty environmental goal of making it the greenest city in America by 2015.  Since then, Nutter and the Office of Sustainability wrote a plan called “Greenworks Philadelphia” that named 14 energy and environmental targets to meet by 2015. Did we make the mark? Carolyn Beeler found out… and the answer might surprise you.

This month, Pennsylvania joined the ranks of more than two dozen other states in expanding Medicaid. Elana Gordon explains the details.

For every sore throat and suture, every embarrassing rash and broken toe, there’s a code – a three to five digit billing code that allows doctors and hospitals to communicate with insurance companies and get paid. In just a few months, those codes are getting a reboot. Todd Bookman took a look at the pages and pages of new codes.

We often hear that science reporting exaggerates findings, but who is really to blame? The scientists? Press officers? Reporters? Joining us this week was regular Pulse contributor Bethany Brookshire, or SciCurious. She is a writer for Science News and Society for Science and the Public and she points to where things could go wrong  in the process but stresses that, ultimately, no one gets a pass.

What does a healthy heart sound like? Recognizing that sound is an essential skill doctors learn very early on and it can take hearing it up to 500 times before medical students can consistently identify the whooshes and murmurs that suggest a problem. Taunya English takes us to a Drexel class where medical students are putting their heart knowledge to the test.

Also on the show, does heat have the power to heal? And we hear from a local artist who is using artistic concepts to teach math and science in schools.

The word “buzz” is a fleeting thing in the world of technology. Products that are supposed to change everything often don’t. In search of the “next big thing” in tech, we’ll take a look at the Gartner Hype Cycle—an investing tool that tries to measure all that hype and predict how long it takes to go from harebrained idea to mainstream acceptance.

It goes without saying that 2014 was a watershed year for climate change. Record snow and heat had the scientific community singing from the same page, and world powers started to prioritize the environment in ways they hadn’t prior. So, what does 2015 hold in store? Later this year, the UN Climate Change Conference will be held in Paris, where climate negotiators will be trying to achieve a legally binding and universal climate agreement on climate with all nations. How likely is that to happen? Carolyn Beeler takes a look.

This week, we reflect on the 500th anniversary of Andres Vesilius, the father of anatomy and skepticism in medicine. Then we revisit students participating in their first anatomy class.

Ever heard of the phrase “Health in all Policies”? It’s the idea that you can look at any government policy through a health lens. Improved health becomes a yardstick—similar to jobs—when deciding if a policy is good or bad. Each January, we make guesses about the people and things we think you’ll be talking about in the New Year and we think “Health in all Policies” will be one of them.

When the federal government asked doctors to digitize their medical records, some physicians started filling out those electronic forms right in the exam room…during the office visit! We’ve all been there, right? But in the last decade, a possible solution, and a new job title, has emerged.

Also on the show, we talk to the author of “Smart People Don’t Diet” to hear what the latest science is telling us about what to eat or avoid. 

It’s the holiday season, so this week we listen back to some stories that make us feel warm and fuzzy. We’ll also attempt to digest some of the things that happened in the health and science world this past year.

2014 was a big year for the pharma industry, with game-changing approaches to drug development, acquisitions, lay-offs. But perhaps the biggest thing this year was the development of a sing drug for Hepatitis C – Sofosbuvir and we find out what it all means for the pharma industry.

A favorite activity this time of year is ice skating.. but guess what? You don’t even really need ice to enjoy the winter activity. Pulse contributor Avir Mitra explored some other slippery options. Sticking with our icy theme, we take a look at snowflakes and how they get their unique shapes. The final story filed under “frozen” is how researchers celebrate the holidays while they study neutrinos at the South Pole.

Since it’s our holiday, end of year, kind of show, we wanted to talk about some big developments in 2014. Regular Pulse contributor and associate editor for The Scientist, Kerry Grens, joins us this week to talk about some big science busts this year… along with some achievements.

Also on the show, what happened to the once prized toy of chemistry sets, a different look at dealing with adversity and grief and one woman’s story about how her experience with diabetes has brought her closer to her granddaughter.

Smells have the almost magical quality of being able to transport us back to a specific time and place with one sniff—an olfactory time machine, of sorts. For some, the smell of the beach transports them to their childhood summer days on the shore, while for others, a food smell might whisk them back to their first trip to Europe. Reporter Carolyn Beeler delves into the science behind the time machines that are our noses.

We might be getting a bit closer to answering one of the oldest questions in planetary science: Where did Earth’s oceans come from? Comets have been thought to be the hydrators of Earth, but a study released last week based on data from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta Spacecraft raises some questions about that theory. Dr. Claudia Alexander of NASA joins Maiken to try to answer some of them.

If at first you don’t succeed, try try again. That’s what our parents always told us, right? Well try as the players might, the Philadelphia 76ers can’t seem to win. And, as Shai Ben-Yaacov reports, the team’s losing streak might be affecting the body chemistry of its young would-be stars.

Airports, cars, bars, the gym…anywhere there’s a power source, there’s also probably a person trying to charge their phone. As far as portable technologies have come this decade, we are still only as mobile as our batteries allow us to be. So, what if your next gadget charged up not in hours, but in seconds? Reporter Todd Bookman reports on a recent breakthrough with the promise to untether us from the outlet.

Across the country, the shale boom has given rise to fears about whether oil and gas development might be polluting the water we drink and the air we breathe. This has led some residents to try doing their own field research, in the mode of citizen science. StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Katie Colaneri reports on this tricky blend of science and advocacy.

Project MERCURRI has been studying how microbes behave on Earth and how they behave in space, in particular on the International Space Station. Many scientists think it’s crucial to understand this in the coming era of long-term manned space flight. On this week’s show, we hear how the project is going, which includes microbes from the offices of WHYY! Gulp.

Also on the show, high-fat diets for pregnant women, using Legos to study drug addiction, and a conversation with a self-described “outlaw scientist” who played a part in the development of a platform for vaccine development.

A quick ethics test: Should a not-for-profit foundation make $3.3 billion selling royalty rights for a drug that treats its own donors and members? What if the money gets reinvested in more drugs and treatments? And what about slapping a $300,000 a year price tag on the stuff? And should we all have to help pick up the tab? Do you know the answers? Unsure ourselves, we sent reporter Carolyn Beeler to look into this more recent twist in the revenue stream of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

“Space…the final frontier.” The prescient words of William Shatner’s Captain James T. Kirk, the tortured hero of the original Star Trek TV series. While his show sure had its hokey moments—think psychedelic sets and Shatner’s pension for melodramatic acting—but it turns out that some of the technology aboard the Starship Enterprise was highly influential for an entire generation of scientists and tinkerers. Reporter Zack Seward has this tale of a high-stakes medical device competition trying to create working “tricorders” inspired by the sci-fi classic and a local team boldly going into the finals.

“Disinfectants” may not hold a very glamorous place in the world of health care, but inadequate clean up can put patients at risk. Hospital-acquired infections remain a huge challenge for the system, with outbreaks costing lives and money. A Delaware company thinks its got a way to reduce the spread of pathogens in medical settings, and, as WHYY’s Todd Bookman reports, the tool could also be used to fight the spread of Ebola.

Imagine you’re lying in bed trying to fall asleep as the chatter of a thousand people drones rudely on. This is an example of what it’s like to hear voices in your head that other people can’t. Hearing voices has long been associated with serious mental illness, and treated as a dangerous symptom, but now, voice hearers and advocates are taking a new approach to living with these voices. Laura Benshoff reports.

The Neti Pot—a personal-care habit a lot of people believe in, but there isn’t a whole lot of science to back it up. It’s that weird plastic kettle you buy at the drugstore, fill with salty water, and then you pour that mixture into your nostril. For some it’s reminiscent of waterboarding, but for others, it’s an essential part of wintertime nose health. So which is it? We asked reporter Taunya English in search for some answers, but…full disclosure…she has a dog in this fight.

Facts can be presented in different ways to tell different stories—anyone who’s served time on a jury knows this is true. Presenting a convincing case to a jury is the biggest part of a lawyer’s job, and some are enlisting the help of neuroscience to do this work better. Maiken Scott sits down with Kellie Janke and Mark Calzaretto of Magna Legal Services. They use their background in neuroscience and psychology to help her clients target specific areas of jurors’ brains.

Also on the show, pain’s relationship with itch, sex equality in research, white-nose syndrome in bats, and a conversation with ecologist Danielle Kreeger about the work of restoring estuaries.

For young athletes, concussions have been a huge topic of conversation and concern – and we’re not just talking about football players here.  But there’s another emerging trouble spot – knee injuries.  Taunya English takes us to the surgery room and sports field where ACL tears are all too common. 

Wearable technologies, or fitness tracking devices, are still a popular trend in gift giving this year.  An estimated one in 10 shoppers will buy one of these gadgets for themselves or a loved one this holiday season. Todd Bookman fills us in on a few of the industry’s expected top sellers this Black Friday. 

Two University of Pennsylvania doctors, Zeke Emanuel and Jason Karlawish, visited us in studio to give two very interesting takes on aging and what quality of life really means to them.   

We also hear from a pediatric neuropsychologist at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine to learn what the inner dialogue is of a scientist who studies brain development in children and is also the mom of two small kids. 

In this week’s Patient File, we hear from Michael Ross, a sports medicine physician and father of two boys.  Despite having colon cancer and receiving chemotherapy, he wants to keep doing what he loves – including running races. 

Also on the show, why do leftovers taste so good and what’s the appeal of tomato juice on planes? 

With the year’s biggest meal upon us, we look at the science of Thanksgiving dinner. On the menu is the gluten in dinner rolls, salt’s roll in cooking a moister turkey, and for dessert…what else, but tryptophan. Pulse Host Maiken Scott delves into the science behind some of your favorite dishes with Carolyn Beeler. 

It’s a week into round two of open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, and it is off to a smoother start compared to last year. Even so, some who were already enrolled in plans are facing some surprising price jumps for 2015, while others are finding affordable options for the very first time. We sent Elana Gordon out to an enrollment to check in with folks trying to secure healthcare plans.

The Philadelphia judge handling the proposed settlement between the NFL and retired players with brain injuries held a hearing in federal court this week to evaluate its fairness. Pulse Host Maiken Scott is joined in studio by attorney Michael Kaplen, who specializes in traumatic brain injury cases, to discuss the current status of the class-action lawsuit and what’s next for players and the league.

If you suffer a heart attack today, your odds of surviving are far better than they were even a decade ago. What’s responsible for this improvement? Technology? Science? Better care? The answer is all of the above…plus “time.” Todd Bookman explains.

In this week’s installment of our regular segment Patient Files: Your stories of illness, healing and recovery, we hear from theology teacher and ultra-marathoner Miriam Gilbert about a routine medical procedure that went horribly awry.

Science not only helps us understand how to make a tastier Thanksgiving dinner, but it also helps brewers preserve the beverage we so love to consume as we watch the football game after the big dinner. How so? By controlling tiny, flavor-changing microbes. Aaron Moselle reports.

A Philadelphia woman diagnosed with leukemia will likely celebrate many more Thanksgivings thanks to a bone marrow donor. Francesca Lynch has been cancer free for a year thanks to Loresa Wright of New York, who signed up with the National Marrow Donor Program’s Be the Match registry. The women—both African American—met for the first time two weeks ago at the nonprofit group’s annual meeting in Minneapolis. Matt Sepic of Minnesota Public Radio was there.

President Obama’s carbon reduction agreement with China this week was criticized by Republican leaders including Mitch McConnell, who say it puts too much onus on the United States and doesn’t demand enough from China. With Republicans in control of Congress and climate change now playing a major role in both domestic and foreign policy, Carolyn Beeler takes a look at the Republican party’s stance on climate change in the long run up to the 2016 presidential election.

They’re called “cool red giants,” and they are the most distant stars in our galaxy. How far away are they? Well, you need 18 zeroes behind the number of miles they are away from Earth. But John Bochansky, a professor of physics at Rider University near Trenton, New Jersey found them anyway! Together with his team, he discovered two cool red giants, and he joins Maiken to discuss how these discoveries could impact our understanding of the Milky Way.

People diagnosed with a serious illness often say that they don’t remember what their doctor said, how they said it, or many of the actual details of the conversation. The truth of the matter is that doctors struggle with these conversations, too. So, for about two decades, Dr. Bob Arnold of the University of Pittsburgh has been honing in on ways to help doctors become better communicators. Elana Gordon attended one of his training sessions in an attempt to understand where the disconnect happens.

In the post-Astroturf era, artificial turf fields have come a long way. They look like grass, and they feel like the natural stuff, too. You can even wear cleats on the stuff. But some are starting to wonder if the downside of fake grass isn’t greater than its benefits. Injuries, staph infections, and heat exhaustion have landed these fields in the news in recent years, and now some local officials are wondering if there could be a cancer connection to playing sports on these bright-green expanses. Laura Benshoff goes in search of some answers.

Villanova University recently opened a new interactive classroom called the Cave comprised of wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling video screens. Picture field trips to the bottom of the ocean or a tour of the human brain. We sent Todd Bookman to explore this new immersive learning experience.

New research takes a radically different approach to cancer, describing it as a sort of “safe mode” for our cells when being attacked by an outside threat. That’s the theory of physicist Paul Davies who was recruited by the National Institutes of Health to study a subject that physicists seldom attempt to tackle, and what he found is both fascinating and controversial. He joins Maiken to discuss his unique ideas about battling the Big C.

Also on this week’s show, landing spacecraft on distant comets, the genetic differences between domesticated house cats and their wild ancestors, and the story of Leslie Handler’s battle with tongue cancer.

Easy access to prescription pain pills has led millions of adults to addiction over the past two decades. Opioid addiction has hit the Northeast particularly hard in recent years, which has many wondering what’s around for treatment. Suboxone has emerged as a favorite drug in the war against addiction, but in rural areas in the Northeast, it can be hard to find a doctor to prescribe it. Reporter Carolyn Beeler has the story of a man struggling to find treatment, and an entrepreneurial medical school student trying to make access easier.

Healthcare providers are moving quickly to get staff up to speed and trained on dealing with ebola. With fears about spreading the virus moving even faster, Camden County in New Jersey recently gathered first responders for a training session. The Pulse’s Taunya English joined the EMS workers, firefighters and police for a lesson in life-saving.

Just six short seconds after lift-off on Tuesday, the Orbital Sciences Antares rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded in dramatic fashion. Nobody was injured, but the incident could be perceived as fodder for anyone skeptical of the commercialization of space travel. Former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao is not one of them. He thinks for-profit space travel is the way of the future.

Last year, prescription drug sales in the U.S. totaled well over $300 billion. Medications are pricey—especially newer drugs, which often come with huge price tags—but these days consumers can cut down drug prices with the help of coupons. Yep, just like the ones you use in the supermarket. But who is really picking up the tab? Pulse host Maiken Scott does some digging.

Starbucks serves a coffee beverage sure to elicit equal parts cheers and derision. The Pumpkin Spice Latte is a seasonal favorite—with more than 200 million sold since the drink’s launch in 2003—but, as reporter Todd Bookman found out, there’s some controversy brewing over the safety of its ingredients.

Trick or treat…It’s candy time! On Halloween parents everywhere will pull the most passive-aggressive move in child-rearing—first, allowing their children to collect a gigantic bag of candy, and then immediately restricting access to the loot. But if asked why candy is so bad, what would parents say? Reporter Gray Tennis investigates.

Also on this week’s show: in honor of Halloween we watch flesh-eating beetles make a contribution to science, we take our turn at creating some extra creepy tunes on the ancient and inimitable theremin, and we hear a ghost story a century in the making.