Once a staple of medicine, the case study is in decline - replaced in recent years by a treasure trove of patient data. But what happens when doctors and doctors-in-training rely on statistics over story? Today on Word of Mouth, a defense of the medical case study. Plus, a Candia man chains himself to a waterslide in hopes of saving his business from auction, and a history of the humble mason jar.
Listen to the full show.
In Defense of the Case Study
Earlier this year, renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks died of cancer. Sacks was celebrated for his narrative style of writing, and for putting an empathetic human touch on hard-to-grasp subjects - but some say that long, narrative-driven style of scientific inquiry is fading away.
Christine Montross is an author, a practicing psychiatrist, and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. In a recent essay for the Chronicle of Higher Education, she says case histories are being replaced by a "fetishism of data" - and she joined us to explain.
Crowdfunding Court Fees
Over the past decade, crowd funding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have been used to raise funds for countless projects - and are now even being used to keep people out of prison. Caroline Grueskin is with the Marshall Project, a non-profit news organization that focuses on the criminal justice system. That's where she wrote about the increasing but unreliable use of crowd funding platforms for legal matters.
Chained To A Water Slide
There's a long history of people chaining themselves to trees or posts or buildings - or to each other - to protest some injustice or simply to get their voices heard. But here in New Hampshire we may have a first. Last week, Kevin Dumont, the owner of Liquid Planet Water Park in Candia, climbed to the top of his water slide tower and chained himself to the rail. His goal? To save the park from a planned December 2nd auction. Check out the full story and see pictures of Dumont chained to the slide here.
History of the Mason Jar
Once the favorite tool of home canners and 4-H fair competitors, the Mason jar has recently come to symbolize the conscious consumer...or at least those who would wish to appear conscious. So how did the Mason jar transform from a humble method of preserving food into a trendy glass for all occasions? Ariana Kelly is a writer and author – her article “The Mason Jar, Reborn” appeared in the Atlantic.
His Boy Elroy
Matt Novak of Paleofuture talks about how weird it is that people tend to view future technology through the lens of a popular 1960's cartoon: The Jetsons.
You can hear this story again at PRX.org.