Themes Medicine Without Borders

The fields of medicine and health care exhibit perhaps the most profound examples of human ingenuity.

Many new health care techniques are first utilized in war. Alan Russell talks about his lab's groundbreaking -- and heartbreaking -- work rebuilding maimed soldiers. Dean Kamen shares a personal story of his efforts to construct a medical prosthesis truly worthy of a soldier’s sacrifice.

However, all this new medicine is useless if you can’t access it. Emily Oster flips our thinking on the AIDS epidemic in Africa -- examining the unspoken prejudices that may prevent the international community from responding effectively. Allison Hunt shares a morality tale: how she got her new titanium hip with some old-fashioned volunteering. And psychologist Vilayanur Ramachandran explains how he cured a debilitating condition -- phantom limb pain -- for a mere $3.

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