This week we hear stories about putting rescue bots to the test after the Mexico earthquake, why a Scottish village was buried in sand during the Little Ice Age, and efforts by the U.S. military to predict posttraumatic stress disorder with Online News Editor David Grimm. Andrew Wagner interviews Alexandra Tinnermann of the University Medical Center of Hamburg, Germany, about the nocebo effect. Unlike the placebo effect, in which you get positive side effects with no treatment, in the nocebo effect you get negative side effects with no treatment. It turns out both nocebo and placebo effects get stronger with a drug perceived as more expensive. Read the research. Listen to previous podcasts. [Image: Chris Burns/Science; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

About one-third of people with epilepsy are treatment resistant. Up until now, epilepsy treatments have focused on taming seizures rather than the source of the disease and for good reason—so many roads lead to epilepsy: traumatic brain injury, extreme fever and infection, and genetic disorders, to name a few. Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel talks with host Sarah Crespi about researchers that are turning back the pages on epilepsy, trying to get to the beginning of the story where new treatments might work. And Sarah also talks with Torsten Neurbert at the Technical University of Denmark’s National Space Institute in Kongens Lyngby about capturing high-altitude “transient luminous events” from the International Space Station (ISS). These lightning-induced bursts of light, color, and occasionally gamma rays were first reported in the 1990s but had only been recorded from the ground or aircraft. With new measurements from the ISS come new insights into the anatomy of lightning. This week’s episode was edited by Podigy. Ads on this week’s show: Bayer; Lightstream; KiwiCo Download a transcript (PDF) Listen to previous podcasts. About the Science Podcast [Image: Gemini Observatory; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Interview with Christopher W. Goodman, MD, author of A Clinical Overview of Off-label Use of Gabapentinoid Drugs

Guidelines include how to deal with pesky interfering signals when making voltammetric sensors

Her company, Esya Labs, is developing DNA nanodevices that track drug responses, screen for new therapies, and more

Several approved and well-studied small molecules could be repurposed as treatments for COVID-19

They persist in the pharma business, even as chemical companies in the West have mostly exited

The presence of the probable carcinogen has prompted drugmakers to issue recall after recall. What risk does it pose, what's the chemistry behind it, and how are drugmakers going to stop the contamination?

Despite the hype, support for the use of chloroquine and its relative hydroxychloroquine outside a clinical trial remains mixed

The experiments follow up on an earlier study that identified 69 compounds that could disrupt possible interactions between viral and human proteins

The experiments follow up on an earlier study that identified 69 compounds that could disrupt possible interactions between viral and human proteins

Khan, I. A

Indian-origin scientist identifies four possible drugs to treat Covid-19

Testing in Hong Kong hospitals shows the regimen clears coronavirus in 7 days in the mildly ill.

Interview with Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, author of Chronic Care Management for Dependence on Alcohol and Other Drugs

Interview with Mark G. Kris, MD, author of Using Multiplexed Assays of Oncogenic Drivers in Lung Cancers to Select Targeted Drugs

Interview with Robert M. Califf, MD, author of Lowering Cost and Increasing Access to Drugs Without Jeopardizing Innovation

Rotch Library - NK2875.7.A9 T73 2019

Rotch Library - RS180.A65 A43 2018