In recent years, a handful of recent discoveries have provided glimmers of hope for both effective and affordable health care. Here, a list of seven recent discoveries that could revolutionize medicine.

The drug works by targeting a type of RNA produced only in cells that have been infected by viruses. “In theory, it should work against all viruses,” says Todd Rider, a senior staff scientist in Lincoln Laboratory’s Chemical, Biological, and Nanoscale Technologies Group who invented the new technology.

Because the technology is so broad-spectrum, it could potentially also be used to combat outbreaks of new viruses, such as the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak, Rider says.

…23-year-old [Michelle Milee Chang] is the co-founder and CEO of Ambassadors for Sustained Health (ASH), a public health organization that is bent on treating public health and aid to developing nations in a more mature and sustainable way. ASH has a handful of flourishing projects in Wamuini, Kenya, and aims to create a public health model that can be used around the world.

“Our take on health is that it’s not just about passing out pills and walking away — but also housing, education and clean water,” Chang said. “These are all players in the fight to stay healthy. Lack of education and poverty are all barriers to increased public health.”

Water hygiene and safe waste disposal are two of the biggest causes of infant mortality in the developing countries. Bill Gates and his foundation hope to create inexpensive toilets to vastly improve the living conditions of millions of people. It could save lives around the world.

I grew up in Harlem, a community steeped in a rich heritage of cultural and political achievement. However, it is also a community beset disproportionately by health problems. Even as a child, I knew I had to do something to help better conditions for my family, friends and neighbors. Becoming a doctor was my way to help.

“We reviewed eight different types of studies,” Diener said. “And the general conclusion from each type of study is that your subjective well-being — that is, feeling positive about your life, not stressed out, not depressed — contributes to both longevity and better health among healthy populations.”

It is known that laughing produces rapid rhythmical contractions of the diaphragm. These rhythmical contractions have a healthful effect on the abdominal organs, stimulating their functions and activating the digestive secretions, especially those of the liver. They also modify the rhythm of breathing, stimulate the pulmonary function and the activity of the heart and thereby produce a better oxidization. The popular proverb which says that “laughing makes good blood” is therefore scientifically accurate.