It's easy to forget that we live in an age of medical wonders. Cancer tumors can be slowed or shrunk in ways previous generations couldn't imagine, with everything from pills to genetically engineered white blood cells. Surgeons can transplant a face, or replace a heart valve without cracking a chest.
It's been well known for many decades that exercise provides many benefits to our health. But a new scientific consortium is revealing new insights into just how profound exercise can be for the human body.
Nearly 900 people aboard cruise ships were sickened from gastrointestinal disease in December amid an escalation in both the frequency and severity of outbreaks, according to data from the CDC. In 2024 there were 16 outbreaks on cruise ships, from norovirus, salmonella, e. coli or other unidentified pathogens that cause gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea or vomiting. That's the largest number of cruise ship outbreaks in 12 years. Five of those outbreaks occurred in December. The most recent incident involved the British ocean liner Queen Mary 2, where nearly 13% of passengers and over 5% of crew aboard were infected. This is happening amid a nationwide surge of norovirus, a fast-moving virus often transmitted through fresh food or water contaminated with tiny particles of infected feces or vomit. It can also be transmitted through surfaces and human contact, with most outbreaks happening in places like hospitals, restaurants, and long-term care facilities.
Nearly 300 primary care physicians at MGB who petitioned the National Labor Relations Board in November to let them vote to form a chapter of the Doctors Council of the Service Employees International Union. They have cited overwhelming workloads, insufficient pay for the hours they worked, a shortage of office staff, and lack of a voice in decisions made by MGB. The unionizing effort is part of a flurry of labor organizing by attending physicians and doctors in training at several large health systems in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Just last year, doctors approved, or took steps toward approving, unions at Salem Hospital (which is part of MGB), Cambridge Health Alliance, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Brown University Health and Care New England, both in Rhode Island. The mobilizing mirrors a national trend. Between 2014 and 2019, the number of physicians belonging to unions grew by 26%, from 46,689 to 67,673, although they still only represent a small fraction of all doctors, according to Dr. Kevin Schulman, a professor of medicine at Stanford University in California, who has studied the issue. And the trend has only accelerated since then.
There are obvious benefits to medical technology. It can help detect diabetes, diagnose cancer, make highly accurate predictions in radiology, identify the presence of tuberculosis, and so much more. It can reduce human error. Some research even suggests that AI-powered applications in healthcare could improve patient outcomes by 30–40 percent while reducing treatment costs by up to 50 percent. But an increased use of medical technology has accelerated the problem of de-skilling, a reduction in the level of skill required to complete a task because some or all components of the task have been automated.
Technology is not just a tool to save costs and automate care but a lifeline to decrease clinician burden and empower patients to participate in their health. Prevention-focused models with cutting-edge innovations can help reshape healthcare into a system that prioritizes whole-person health, helping to improve longevity and health span while reducing the need for costly interventions altogether.