The Pulse – Nov. 21, 2014

With the year’s biggest meal upon us, we look at the science of Thanksgiving dinner. On the menu is the gluten in dinner rolls, salt’s roll in cooking a moister turkey, and for dessert…what else, but tryptophan. Pulse Host Maiken Scott delves into the science behind some of your favorite dishes with Carolyn Beeler. 

It’s a week into round two of open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, and it is off to a smoother start compared to last year. Even so, some who were already enrolled in plans are facing some surprising price jumps for 2015, while others are finding affordable options for the very first time. We sent Elana Gordon out to an enrollment to check in with folks trying to secure healthcare plans.

The Philadelphia judge handling the proposed settlement between the NFL and retired players with brain injuries held a hearing in federal court this week to evaluate its fairness. Pulse Host Maiken Scott is joined in studio by attorney Michael Kaplen, who specializes in traumatic brain injury cases, to discuss the current status of the class-action lawsuit and what’s next for players and the league.

If you suffer a heart attack today, your odds of surviving are far better than they were even a decade ago. What’s responsible for this improvement? Technology? Science? Better care? The answer is all of the above…plus “time.” Todd Bookman explains.

In this week’s installment of our regular segment Patient Files: Your stories of illness, healing and recovery, we hear from theology teacher and ultra-marathoner Miriam Gilbert about a routine medical procedure that went horribly awry.

Science not only helps us understand how to make a tastier Thanksgiving dinner, but it also helps brewers preserve the beverage we so love to consume as we watch the football game after the big dinner. How so? By controlling tiny, flavor-changing microbes. Aaron Moselle reports.

A Philadelphia woman diagnosed with leukemia will likely celebrate many more Thanksgivings thanks to a bone marrow donor. Francesca Lynch has been cancer free for a year thanks to Loresa Wright of New York, who signed up with the National Marrow Donor Program’s Be the Match registry. The women—both African American—met for the first time two weeks ago at the nonprofit group’s annual meeting in Minneapolis. Matt Sepic of Minnesota Public Radio was there.