The Pulse – Jan. 16 2015

A pharma revolution is afoot: biosimilars. They’re like generics, except for more complex biologic drugs that can’t exactly be replicated… think injectables, used in cancer treatments, that often require a provider to administer them. Last week, a federal advisory committee handed down its recommendations on the very first application for a drug of this kind in the U.S. Elana Gordon was there and brings us this report on what many are calling an historic move.

According to the lead science writer for the website FiveThirtyEight.com, every time you fly, you trash the planet. Pulse host Maiken Scott sits down with Christie Aschwanden to discuss the damage air travel does to the environment and what we can do to mitigate it.

Ever pass a hospital employee on the street (or on line at Starbucks) wearing their brightly colored “scrubs”? Ever wonder if they should be doing that…wearing them out into the world, where the risk of infecting others with the germs on  them is high?  Maiken Scott went out in search of whether or not that’s a good idea.

Every year around this time—right in the middle of cold and flu season—parents with young kids seriously dread “daycare syndrome.” That’s the revolving door of illnesses that forces parents to call in sick to work. Taunya English reports on the scourge of daycare families.

Learning science can be complicated, and students often use graphs and other tools to understand complex problems. But what if using these visual tools isn’t an option? This week in our series Patient Files, we hear from a legally blind student who says that you don’t always have to see what you’re learning in order to understand it.

Also on this week’s show, eating and crying in the bathroom at work, how FitBits can cure some deep societal ills (or end up in your underwear drawer), and a new twist in the long and winding road to stop smoking.