The Pulse – April 24, 2015

Typically, getting in a nasty car accident hinders your life, but in the case of 24-year-old Albert Leva, rear-ending a car full of undercover cops saved his. But how? Pulse host Maiken Scott goes in search of a medical explanation.

The American Association for Cancer Research hosted its annual meeting in Philadelphia this week, drawing cancer researchers and oncologists from all over the world. Pulse contributor Kerry Grens was there and joins us for a recap of what’s going on in the hunt for a cure to cancer.

Hooman Noorchashm and Amy Reed are both physicians, they’re married, they have six kids together, and they’re on a mission. You see, in 2013, Reed had surgery in Boston, for what was supposed to be an uncomplicated hysterectomy to treat fibroids. But when a mistaken diagnosis was made exponentially worse by a piece of medical equipment, Reed found herself suddenly riddled with cancer. Ever since, they’ve made it their mission to get out the word. Reporter Taunya English sat down to ask them about their media strategy.

Forget the Apple Watch, the tech giant has another big rollout this spring with potentially sizeable implications to modern medicine. The product, Research Kit, is a new software platform designed to let scientists collect vast amounts of data from iPhone users, and as part of our new series Bit-by-Bit: How Data is Shaping our Health, Todd Bookman looks into the up and down sides of this new platform.

Last week, California health officials finally declared the Disneyland measles outbreak over, but the national debate over vaccinating is anything but. And though every time this war of words flares back up, we treat it like a revelation, the fact is, the row over how we protect the our nation against deadly diseases is substantially older than the United States. Elana Gordon and Pulse contributor Avir Mitra have the story of a famous founding father’s role in the modern vaccine debate.

And finally this week, the Philadelphia Science Festival kicks off this weekend, and we have a preview. Nerd alert!