Breakthroughs

Millionaire couple Harville Hendrix and Helen Hunt are on a mission to save marriages in Dallas. Their goal is to bring the tools – in both Spanish and English – to fix broken relationships.

Workplace wellness is already a six-billion-dollar-a-year industry, and it’s growing. Employers are searching for programs that are both good for the beltline and the bottom line. The result? They’re gamifying corporate wellness programs.

The crowdfunding trend – where people pool their money to back everything from arts projects to new gadgets – has hit home. Literally. Investors are now pooling their money online to buy real estate. And the first crowdfunded real estate transaction just took place in Dallas.

Millions of Americans suffer from a chronic ringing in the ears known as tinnitus. And for more than 10 million of them, the experience of hearing that sound is severe enough to seek medical attention.

There may be a future for an ancient profession.

Scribes, who in times past worked on everything from translating religious texts to historical book keeping, are making a comeback in the doctor’s office. A growing number of physicians in Texas, and across the country, are hiring scribes to gather patient information and lighten their workload.

How many days will you have to wait to see a doctor? Depends on where you live. A new study of fifteen metropolitan areas measured average wait time, and the winner? It’s Dallas.

People living in one South Dallas neighborhood used to be three times as likely to die from diabetes-related complications than those in Dallas County overall. That grim statistic is changing, thanks to a prevention-focused health center at the Juanita J. Craft Institute.

A $7.75 million gift from Darwin Deason will launch the Darwin Deason Institute for Cyber Security and support the Deason Innovation Gym in Southern Methodist University’s Lyle School of Engineering.

Keeping track of your kids at a theme park or fair can be a challenge. That’s why Plano parent and engineer Willy Wu created a device called BuddyTag. There’s no GPS involved -- just a phone and a wristband.

If you’re looking to kick your health tech startup into high gear, Dallas-Fort Worth is a sweet spot to set up shop. Among DFW’s offerings: a roaring tech sector, startup meetups galore and top medical schools, to  name a few.

Texas has some of the country’s strictest laws against marijuana — and they date back nearly 100 years. But new polls show growing support across the state to legalize marijuana use. This weekend, drug reform advocates are gathering in Dallas for the first major drug policy conference of 2014, hosted by Mothers Against Teen Violence.

The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History has a new learning space, where kids get some unusual playmates: scientists and researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington.

For the past decade, UTD professor Orlando Auciello has been obsessed with growing diamonds. But instead of trying to create the biggest gem possible, he’s been trying to craft the thinnest possible layer of diamond. This thin coating could advance everything from hip implants to hydraulic pumps.

How did Obamacare affect North Texans in 2013? It depends on whom you ask.

Under Obamacare, nearly every American has to have health insurance or pay a penalty. One of the few exceptions is for people who are members of what’s called “health care sharing ministries.” The two largest sharing ministries – Samaritan and Medi-Share – have both nearly doubled their membership in Texas since the Affordable Care Act.

In the first two months of Obamacare, 14,000 Texans purchased insurance. One of them was Misty Parker. This so-called “young invincible” has a premium of $38 a month.

“Who are the navigators?” That’s the title of a House Oversight Committee hearing in Dallas Monday looking at the people who help Texans sign up for health insurance through the federal exchange.

Last minute shoppers are streaming in to Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic in West Dallas, seeking help to enroll in health insurance before the Dec. 23 deadline — that’s the date people have to buy insurance through the federal exchange so coverage starts Jan. 1.

The annual America’s Health Rankings report for 2013 has just been released. And while it shows American’s made considerable progress in their overall health, the state of Texas still comes in in the bottom half – at number 36. The main challenges? Physical inactivity and high number of uninsured.

When a heroin epidemic swept through North Texas in the 1990s, it left at least two dozen young people dead. Then the drug seemed to go into hibernation.

Now the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says it’s seeing an alarming number of women from affluent Dallas suburbs buying heroin. And, for many, the addiction begins with prescription pain pills.