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In Focus

Fighting COVID-19 with the Body’s Clock

The fledgling field of chronotherapy—timing drugs to a patient’s circadian rhythms—may yet come to the aid of those at risk from the virus.

Even as the COVID-19 vaccines roll out, current cases of the disease remain on the rise. Better ways to treat the infected are still sorely needed, and that holds especially true for countries where resources are limited and vaccinations are likely to move more slowly. So it is with interest that many are considering a resource as free as the...

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In Depth

Chapter 1: In the Path of the Pandemic

A novel coronavirus would come to affect every ward, clinician, researcher and patient at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Chapter 2: The Virtues of Necessity

As the first COVID-19 patients arrived, pressure mounted to discover how the disease worked and how it could be beaten back.

Chapter 3: The Fight That Lies Ahead

When the caseload began to ease, clinicians came to grips with the new normal as researchers set their sights on ending the pandemic for good.

The Case Against Vaping

As COVID-19 makes lung health a national concern, experts take another look at the dangers of e-cigarettes.

When A Cure Can't Wait

COVID-19 treatment trials will need to be nimble. Is this the moment for adaptive designs to step into the limelight?

Everything Changes

Every tumor begins with a genetic mutation. Understanding how they occur and what they do may revolutionize cancer treatment.

The Personality Game

Character traits can influence heart health, cognitive decline and other health factors. Are people prisoners of their dispositions?

New Mothers on the Brink

They are dying at alarming rates in the United States. Treating mental illness, an often overlooked cause, could save many lives.

The Insomnia Genes

Poor sleep affects almost half of the country, and solutions have been hard to come by. Tracing the problem to its genetic roots may stop the tossing and turning.

The Primary Problem

Long the bedrock of medicine, the practice of primary care has been in need of a reinvention. Several models show promise. None of them will be cheap.

The Art of Active Surveillance

Sometimes prostate cancer is best served by a wait-and-see approach. Yet many patients and doctors can't stand the thought of doing nothing. What would change their minds?

Back From the Brink

Near-death experiences have been the domain of pseudoscience. But clinicians ignore them at their peril.

To Build a Better Vaccine

Waiting a decade or more for new vaccines may be a thing of the past, thanks to the revolution of rational vaccine design.

What Blockchain Could Do

Beneath the hype is a technology that could solve many logistical problems that plague medicine.

Something in Your Voice

New speech analysis technologies can help diagnose mental illness. But they also raise troubling questions.

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Dispatches

The Drugs Machines Create

The idea of having computers design new therapies has slowly been gaining ground. In the COVID-19 crisis, it may have found its moment.

Podcast: Telemedicine’s Moment

The ascendance of virtual and distanced care has taken place with extraordinary speed. Lee Schwamm discusses which innovations are likely to stick and some bumps in the road ahead.

What Is Coming Next?

COVID-19 cases are again on the rise. MGH incident commander Ann Prestipino reflects on the road traveled so far and which next steps are critical.

The Hexapod Booth

A crisis in testing logistics leads to a breakthrough device.

For Some, ECMO

An intensive procedure helped patients breathe while their lungs healed.

A Roar in the Streets

Social unrest came on the coattails of the pandemic, and hospital workers rose to fight that battle, too.

200 Years of Preparation

Since its founding in 1811, MGH has both faced pandemics and learned from them.

100 Days of Loneliness

After 40 days in a coma, one COVID-19 patient faces what he feels is a bigger challenge—the isolation of treatment in a pandemic.

Your New Job Is ...

The new normal meant new tasks to be done. Those jobs were often filled by very unconventional candidates.

Rage in the Streets

Are there echoes of the “cholera riots” in the age of COVID-19?

Where Telemedicine Is a Revolution

In American Indian country—long underfunded and underserved—new rules and payment models for telehealth can vastly improve the delivery of care.

COVID-19 On Purpose

One sure-fire way to test vaccines and treatments is to deliberately infect volunteers. Once unthinkable, the idea is quickly gaining steam.

Flash Radiotherapy Is (Finally) on the Way

Since the 1960s, the dream of ultra-fast high dose radiation promised better cancer treatment with fewer side effects. Will the reality measure up?

A Pandemic of Sitting Around?

More time on the couch—the byproduct of stay-at-home measures—carries its own danger. The “exercise sprint” and other workarounds may save us.

The Autoimmune Whodunnit

Autoimmune diseases are on the rise. The hunt is on to find their causes—including bacteria that may trigger the body to pick a fight with itself.

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From Mass General

What a Hospital is Built For

As COVID-19 first swept through Boston, the people of Massachusetts General Hospital responded. Their efforts offer a portrait of medicine in motion.

Our Response to a Pandemic

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss how Massachusetts General Hospital is tackling COVID-19.

The Changing Landscape of Primary Care

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss a shortage of primary care physicians and how to address the problem.

A Safe and Controversial Place

Physician Mark Eisenberg discusses the furor over (and the desperate need for) safer injection sites.

Next-Generation Vaccines

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss the revolution of rational vaccine design.

A Revolution in Cancer Treatment

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss the promise of CAR T cell therapy for solid tumors.

Climate Change Meets an Aging Population

The most common victims of extreme weather events are older people. New research looks into how the health system fails them, and how it can be fixed.

Singular Exceptions

Should primary care physicians be trained to spot unusual, medically important cases?

Silent No More

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss the need to end workplace violence in health care.

An Extra Pair of (A)Is

Machine intelligence takes a big step into the clinic, with a technology that helps identify patients with an elevated risk of breast cancer.

Doctoring on a Screen

Telemedicine made its first broadcast 50 years ago in an airport clinic.

Ending the AIDS Epidemic

Since the early 1980s, AIDS has killed more than 35 million people worldwide. But researchers are determined to find better treatments, cures and preventions that many finally put an end to the epidemic.

For Some Clots, It Takes a Village

Treatment of pulmonary embolisms may benefit from a team approach. But that model faces obstacles inside and outside the hospital.

Shining a Light on Depression

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris highlight the need for new approaches to treating depression.

A (Small) Cause of Big Pain

Neurologist Anne Louise Oaklander investigates a cause of chronic pain that is treatable without opioids.

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Charts & Data

The Body on Chips

An engineered model of human physiology hits an important milestone.

How to Green a Hospital

Health care leaders look for ways to scale back an outsized carbon footprint.

The New Anatomy

Parts of the body are constantly being proposed or discovered. Where do they come from?

Anatomy of a Hashtag

Public health messaging online yields beautiful—but sometimes worrying—data.

How Did COVID-19 Get Here?

Genomic analysis details how SARS-CoV-2 spread through Boston.

The Village Without Memory

In France, a home for people with dementia is designed from the ground up.

To Choose Death

Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act crosses the 20-year mark.

In Passing

How does a hospital keep patient details from getting lost in the shuffle?

To Catch a Protein

The world of protein imaging undergoes a chilly revolution.

The Next Zika

Vaccines are most helpful before an epidemic hits. So which diseases should researchers prepare for next?

ResearchKit

A software platform from Apple is helping medical researchers collect health data from any iPhone user

White Coats

The standard garb of the physician comes with surprising risks and benefits.

Unsound the Alarm

Hundreds of alarms compete for a clinician's attention. Can less noise mean better care?

Babel in the ICU

Machines in an ICU can't speak to one another—but what if they could?

The Changes We've Seen

Proto looks at trends in health care during the last 10 years.

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