Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed

The New York Times: You May Have This Blobby Animal To Thank For Your Nervous System 
For hundreds of millions of years, pancake-shaped animals the size of a needle tip have been roving the seas with an appetite for tasty microbes and algae. They’re called placozoans, and are among the simplest of the major animal lineages. As simple as they are, a team of researchers has found compelling evidence of neuron-like cells in placozoans. And given how long these animals have existed, it’s possible that placozoans served as the blueprint for the nervous systems in more complex animals, including humans. The work was published in the journal Cell on Tuesday. (Jones, 9/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Elite Athletes Swear By These Extreme Treatments. Scientists Think They Could Boost Your Health, Too
Cutting-edge sports-performance therapies using infrared light, electromagnetic pulses and cold potentially have longer-term benefits, researchers say. (Murphy, 9/16)

The New York Times: How Much Do Patients Need To Know About A Potentially Risky Treatment? 
A visiting researcher at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center was startled when he read the warning from the Food and Drug Administration about a product that had been used in spine surgeries at the esteemed Manhattan hospital. The fluid, derived from umbilical cord blood, was not approved for such procedures, the agency cautioned, and its Idaho manufacturer had been cited for possible contamination problems and inadequate screening of donors, making the product potentially unsafe. (Gabler, Eder and Pitchon, 9/20)

The New York Times: South Korean Adoptions And A Nation’s Painful Past
Mia Lee Sorensen’s Danish parents used to tell her that her birth family in South Korea had put her up for adoption. According to her adoption papers, she was born prematurely in 1987 to a family that could not afford her medical bills and wished for her to have a “good future” abroad. But when Ms. Sorensen found her birth parents in South Korea last year, they could not believe she was alive. They told her that her mother had passed out during labor and that when she woke up, the clinic told her that the baby had died. (Sang-Hun, 9/17)

Politico: They Thought Their Sick Little Girl Would Be Safe In America. Then It Denied Her Family Entry
Two years since the chaotic withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, the world has moved on. But one Afghan family with a very sick little girl is still waiting — and hoping — to move to the U.S. (Misra, 9/17)

The Washington Post: At Japan’s Dementia Cafes, Forgotten Orders Are All Part Of The Service
The 85-year-old server was eager to kick off his shift, welcoming customers into the restaurant with a hearty greeting: “Irasshaimase!” or “Welcome!” But when it came time to take their orders, things got a little complicated. He walked up to a table but forgot his clipboard of order forms. He gingerly delivered a piece of cake to the wrong table. One customer waited 16 minutes for a cup of water after being seated. But no one complained or made a fuss about it. Each time, patrons embraced his mix-ups and chuckled along with him. That’s the way it goes at the Orange Day Sengawa, also known as the Cafe of Mistaken Orders. (Lee and Inuma, 9/19)