Seniors Shy Away From Using Internet To Diagnose Health Problems
A new report shows that less than 20 percent of the age group turn to the internet when they have a question about their ailments or health. In other news, the technology behind reading functional MRIs has had a long, bumpy road.
Los Angeles Times:
Senior Citizens Rarely Consult Dr. Google For Medical Advice, Study Says
Senior citizens need more medical care than anyone else in the United States. And the Internet is chock full of health information. Yet seniors are far less likely than other adults to tap into it, new research shows. A report published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. found that only about 18% of participants in the National Health and Aging Trends Study got health information online in 2014. That pales in comparison with the approximately 60% of adults of all ages who have told the Pew Research Center that they consult Dr. Google at least once a year. (Kaplan, 8/2)
Stat:
After Another Statistical Speed Bump, Is The Science Of FMRI Learning From Its Mistakes?
A small corner of the neuroscience world was in a frenzy. It was mid-June and a scientific paper had just been published claiming that years worth of results were riddled with errors. The study had dug into the software used to analyze one kind of brain scan, called functional MRI. The software’s approach was wrong, the researchers wrote, calling into doubt “the validity of some 40,000 fMRI studies” — in other words, all of them. The reaction was swift. Twitter lit up with panicked neuroscientists. Bloggers and reporters rained down headlines citing “seriously flawed” “glitches” and “bugs.” Other scientists thundered out essays defending their studies. (Vlasits, 8/3)