In a monthly column for PBS NewsHour, Dr. Howard Markel revisits moments that changed the course of modern medicine, like the invention of the stethoscope. Photo By BSIP/UIG via Getty Images. Long ...

To hear a patient’s heart, doctors used to just put an ear up to a patient’s chest and listen. Then, in 1816, things changed. Lore has it that 35-year-old Paris physician Rene Laennec was caring for a ...

Ask any doctor and it’s likely they’ll remember it – the weight of it, the colour, the pride of wearing it for the first time. The day a medical student gets their first stethoscope is the day they ...

To hear a patient's heart, doctors used to just put an ear up to a patient's chest and listen. Then, in 1816, things changed. Lore has it that 35-year-old Paris physician Rene Laennec was caring for a ...

Why is a 200-year-old icon of the medical field still in wide use in the digital age? Some say modern tools are more informative and worth the... The Stethoscope: Timeless Tool Or Outdated Relic? To ...