Surprising Science — November 3, 2009

Organ Grinder

For years organ donors have suffered the medical costs of saving another person’s life – now health insurers are denying them cover too.

bigthinkeditor

People generous enough to donate a kidney to a loved one or complete stranger could be penalised by health insurance companies which specify having just one kidney as a “pre-existing” condition which can constitute denial of cover. This is an additional insult to the injury that has been suffered by kidney donors for years – that of having to pay thousands for their own transplant-related medical care. Donna Luebke, a nurse practitioner in cardiology at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, told the American Statesman: “Right now it is the issue for living donors in this country,” Luebke said. “I know of donors who have paid thousands of dollars out of pocket for complications.” She thinks that as Congress debates reform of the health care system it should require that donors are covered.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

▸

7 min

—

with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Politics & Current Affairs

Crooked Victory?

Hamid Karzai’s default election victory in Afghanistan spells difficulties for the supporters of the cancelled run-off, including President Barack Obama.