Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

After the vivid video of the wrongful death of George Floyd went viral in late May, millions of people of all races in America and abroad took to the streets to demonstrate in the name of solidarity and justice. This was all motivated by one man’s story and, more broadly, was a potent remind of the power of story to capture our attention and provoke action. George Floyd was the most recent widely publicized victim …

Ultrasound captured me from the start. It happened during a night shift on my emergency medicine clerkship at Hurley Hospital in Flint, MI. I remember awkwardly picking up a phased array probe for the first time and the astonishment I felt when that beating heart appeared in black and white on the screen when I pressed the probe against the patient’s gel-laden chest. I had seen ultrasound images online before, but this was different. I …

1940 was a particularly hopeless year in Great Britain. Having easily conquered France and signed a temporary treaty with the USSR, Adolf Hitler turned his full attention towards the conquest of the United Kingdom. As the Battle of Britain commenced, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, against this bleak backdrop, memorably addressed his people, and the world: “…if we fail, then the whole world…including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss …

I’m phenomenally bad at gambling for a multitude of reasons. I bet small when I should bet large. I bet large when I shouldn’t even be playing the game. I’m especially terrible at roulette because when I pick a number, usually 22, I stick with it—much longer than I should. Each time the wheel stops, on any other number, I’m disappointed, sure. But that disappointment is quickly replaced with hope that the odds of lucky …

35,000. As I assume the role of editor-in-chief of the journal, this is the number that revolves through my head with rhythmic pops like an old, vinyl record. Cognitive psychologists estimate that that’s the number of decisions an average adult makes every day. This number may seem impossibly large at first, to the point of absurdity even. After all, that breaks down to a decision every 2 seconds. But let’s pause briefly and examine this. …