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ScienceHealth
Scientists Peer Inside the Disgusting Cloud of Living Things That Surrounds You Daily
From the minute we’re born, we’re surrounded by a swarm of things not visible to the human eye—dangerous pathogens, harmless microbes, and a wide assortment of chemicals. A new study out of Stanford University seems to illuminate this hidden world, and the results are admittedly both cool and terrifying. Typically, when scientists want to know … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
The Current U.S. Drug Overdose Crisis Began in the Late 1970s, Study Finds
The devastation wrought by opioids in recent years is only part of a much larger drug crisis in the United States that stretches back four decades, according to a new study published Thursday in Science. Since 1979, the study found, the overdose death rate has been exponentially climbing, even as the deadly drugs of choice … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
Scientists Are Turning Zika Virus Into a Weapon Against Brain Cancer
A devastating viral disease could actually help treat and prevent brain cancer in the future, suggests yet more research, published Tuesday in MBio. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch and elsewhere successfully used a modified version of the Zika virus to selectively kill off certain stem cells that allow brain tumors to stay … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
An Aspirin a Day Might Not Extend Life for Healthy Older People
A daily low dose of aspirin won’t help healthy older people stay alive any longer, suggests new research published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. It might even raise their risk of dying early of certain things, like cancer. The disappointing findings come from an extensive, randomized, and controlled study that first … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
Study Shows That Soot From Polluted Air Can Reach the Placenta
The idea that air pollution can hurt developing fetuses in the womb is not controversial. But new preliminary research presented this week seems to provide direct evidence of how this damage can happen, via the placenta. The UK researchers studied the placentas of five non-smoking women who had recently given birth to healthy children through … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
America’s Obesity Problem Is Getting Even Worse
The obesity epidemic in America is only getting worse in some states, according to a new report out this week. No single state had its overall obesity rate decline in 2017, it found, while six states saw a increase. But there have seemingly been minor victories in lowering childhood obesity in some groups. The State … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
Study Suggests BPA-Free Plastics Are Just as Harmful to Health
Plastic products that boast of being “BPA-free” aren’t necessarily any safer for us, suggests a new mouse study published Thursday in Current Biology. The chemicals used to replace BPA in these plastics can still leak out and affect the sperm and eggs of both male and female mice, it found. And these same effects could … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
Crowdfunding Sites Are Putting Money in the Pockets of Cancer Quacks, Report Finds
It’s become a heartbreakingly common sight on the internet: People using crowdfunding sites to raise money for their expensive health care, including cancer treatment. But a new report published Wednesday in the BMJ suggests that desperate people are often using this money to pursue dubious, possibly dangerous treatments from unscrupulous charlatans. The report, written by … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
Is the New Apple Watch’s ECG Feature Legit?
Many of the products announced during Apple’s annual iPhone event today are sure to get people excited, but it’s the newest, fourth iteration of the Apple Watch that could have grand public health implications. The Apple Watch, already marketed as a heart rate monitor, will now have sensors capable of taking someone’s electrocardiogram (ECG or … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
One of the Most Famous Degenerative Diseases Affects the Brain in Previously Unknown Ways
An incurable affliction that gradually destroys a person’s ability to walk, speak, and eventually breathe can also deteriorate the mind, new research suggests. People with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are more likely to have other mental and behavioral health problems than people without the condition, the study found. ALS, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, is … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
A Common Antidepressant Might Help Bacteria Become Superbugs
A common antidepressant, sold under the brand name Prozac, could be helping some bacteria build resistance to antibiotics, suggests a new study from Australia. The study, published in Environment International, found that fluoxetine was capable of inducing antibiotic resistance in laboratory strains of Escherichia coli. Fluoxetine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), a class … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
People Who Take Supplements Containing This Stimulant Are Risking Their Health, Study Finds
People who use dietary supplements containing an ingredient called higenamine are playing with fire, suggests a new study. There’s often no telling just how much higenamine is packed into a single pill, it found, meaning people could be dosing themselves with dangerously high levels of the plant-based stimulant. The researchers behind the study, published in … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
Jet Hand Dryers Are Basically Germ Cannons, Study Finds
It’s long been suspected that hand dryers, especially those quick-drying ones that blast hot air known as jet dryers, are actually way worse at keeping our hands and bathrooms free of disease-causing germs. Worryingly, they could even be spreading illness in hospital bathrooms, new research suggests. Researchers in the UK, France, and Italy teamed up … Continued
By Ed Cara -
Tech NewsNews
Quarantined Passengers on Flight From Dubai Were Sick With the Flu and Common Cold: Officials
The initially mysterious illness that prompted Emirates Airlines Flight 203 to be quarantined upon its arrival to JFK International Airport in New York Wednesday is likely just a bad case of the flu and cold, health officials said Thursday. As we shared yesterday, the 14-hour flight arrived to JFK Wednesday morning from Dubai in the … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
For Some People, Taking Probiotics May Actually Harm Normal Gut Bacteria
A pair of new studies published Thursday are the latest to suggest probiotic supplements might not be as universally useful as their proponents believe. In a series of experiments involving mice and healthy human volunteers, the Israeli researchers found that probiotics only sometimes do what they’re advertised to do: change the makeup of our gut’s … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
People Are Still Eating Recalled Honey Smacks Cereal—and They’re Getting Sick
Public health experts have been warning people since June to stay away from Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal, as it can possibly give you a nasty case of salmonella poisoning. But people are still eating the frog-branded cereal, and they are unfortunately getting sick. On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its tally of victims … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
A Common Painkiller Has Serious Heart Risks, Study Finds
A commonly used painkiller might be too risky for people to keep taking, suggests a new study published this week in the BMJ. It found that people who use diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), are more likely to come down with cardiovascular disease than people who take other NSAIDs or acetaminophen. Diclofenac is sold … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
Study Claims White Noise Can Damage Your Brain, but Don’t Panic
A recent research review suggests that white noise, the soothing, fuzzy soundtrack so many of us rely on to sleep or block out distractions, could actually be dangerous. It argues that exposure to the random, unstructured sounds that make up white noise can alter the brain’s neural connections that help us perceive sound, leaving us … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceGenetics
A Gene Editing Study in Dogs Shows Promise in Treating a Deadly Form of Muscular Dystrophy
A new study of dogs published this week in Science offers a tantalizing glimpse of how life-changing the gene-editing technology CRISPR could be for some people in the near future. It suggests that CRISPR can be used to treat an otherwise incurable, fatal genetic disorder known as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). DMD is the most … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
Don’t Tell People Coffee Causes Cancer, FDA Warns California
The Food and Drug Administration is trying to stop the state of California from going ahead and abiding with a controversial court decision, one that would mandate coffee sold in the state come with a label warning people it could cause cancer. Since 1986, California has had a law that demands companies selling any products … Continued
By Ed Cara