More than a Spoonful
Back in December 2006, readers got their first dose of the Spoonful of Medicine blog. Over the last eight years, there’s been a lot of news to dispense—from our reporting in April about experimental Ebola drugs (when much of the world was ignoring the rising outbreak in West Africa) to our look at the ongoing problem of drug shortages and the movement to pressure companies to make cheaper therapies available. We’ve highlighted many of the biggest breakthroughs in biomedical research, and also detailed a few of the ones that went under the radar. Take, for example, our reporting on insights into the tapeworm genome last year, or a study indicating that a diabetes drug could potentially work to treat emphysema. In every instance we went beyond simply reporting the results and tried to give our readers a better understanding of the biological mechanisms underpinning new findings, as well as a level-headed take on what the real implications were for any future medical applications. Read more