Health

Amazing and Adorable: 4D Scan Shows a Fetus Yawning in the Womb

Medical imaging’s come a long way in the past few decades—but it’s now so good that doctors can use it to tell the difference between a baby opening its mouth and it yawning. A team of researchers from Durham University, UK, has been analyzing data from 4D ultrasound scans which create three dimensional renderings of…

Health Jamie Condliffe

How Much Weight You Gained From Your Thanksgiving Dinner

Postprandial weight gain is all a matter of timing. In the short term-I mean the very short term-any food and drink that you put into your body will make you exactly that much heavier. Eat a pound of marshmallows, and you’ll have added one pound to your mass, at least until your body starts to…

Health Daniel Engber - Popular Science

Ignorance Is Bliss When It Comes To Healthy Thanksgiving Portion Sizes

You may want to skip this story if you were hoping to enjoy a giant Thanksgiving feast without a side of guilt this year. Over at the Greatist, Jordan Shakeshaft has created a handy visual guide on just how much of the traditional favorites you should be scooping onto your plate. And the depressing reality…

Health Andrew Liszewski

Fingertip Blood Pressure Monitor Does Away With All That Squeezing

Using the same phase shift technology developed for its portable breast cancer screener, researchers at Nihon University have created a blood pressure monitor that works like a fingerprint reader. So gone are the days when your upper arm needs to be strangled with an inflated cuff. https://gizmodo.com/portable-breast-cancer-detector-brings-checkups-to-the-5862190 A pair of LEDs and light sensors embedded…

Health Andrew Liszewski

This Radiant Fryer Promises Deep Fried Foods Without a Side of Guilt

It might look like a souped-up bagel toaster you’d find in a cafeteria, but this radiant heat oven was designed by a Purdue University food researcher to fry up foods without requiring them to swim in a vat of fatty oil. Which means healthier fried foods with less calories, fat, and cooking times. Professor Kevin…

Health Andrew Liszewski

Crystal Meth Could Stave Off the Flu

As winter draws in, the threat of flu looms large. But getting a preventative shot might not be the best line of defense any more—because new research suggests a small dose of crystal meth might be effective, too. https://gizmodo.com/human-mutation-is-what-makes-the-flu-deadly-5896377 Researchers, from the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan and the University of Regensburg in Germany,…

Health Jamie Condliffe

How DNA Detectives Saved Dozens of Infants From a Deadly Breakout

When an outbreak of MRSA was detected in 12 babies at Rosie Hospital in Cambridge, UK, doctors panicked. The superbug is famously difficult to treat and particularly dangerous in infants. The risks were immediate; the implications dire. And how the hospital avoided catastrophe is a scientific sleuth story of the highest order. MRSA—methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus…

Health Jamie Condliffe

New Bacteria-Resistant Hospital Sheets Can Keep You From Getting Sicker

The hospital isn’t always the safest place; being around other sick people just breeds more sickness. Because as many as 10 percent of patients pick up some kind of infection while they’re admitted, Spanish researchers have developed a textile that can kill bacteria and could be used in bed sheets and gowns. Researchers created these…

Health Leslie Horn

Surviving a plane crash is more common than you probably realize

Planes are very safe, and chances are you’ve been told as much. “You’re more likely to die on your drive to the airport than you are in the sky,” and all that. But do you know why planes are so safe? It’s not just because plane crashes are rare (though they most definitely are). It’s…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Doctors Talk to Vegetative Patient Through Brain Scans

Doctors have managed to communicate with a patient who’s been in a vegetative state for more than a decade by using brain scans—and he even told them he wasn’t in pain. The Canadian patient, Scott Routley, was asked questions while his brain was scanned using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The doctors we able…

Health Jamie Condliffe

Does wealth create peanut allergies?

Much ink has been spilled over the rise of allergies over the last few decades, and one of the most popular theories is that it’s due to children not being exposed to enough germs. A new piece of research seems to support that theory, tying the incidence of the dreaded peanut allergy to people’s socioeconomic…

io9 Tim Barribeau

Will 2040 be the year of the allergy apocalypse?

Climate change could mean that your allergies are about to go into overdrive. A new study suggests that by 2040, pollen counts will have doubled — that’s a hell of a lot of sneezing and scratchy eyes headed our way. The research is set to be presented by Leonard Bielory by at the Annual Scientific…

io9 Tim Barribeau

How a Reddit Rage Comic Saved a Man’s Life

Four days ago, the rage comic above was posted to Reddit by CappnPoopdeck. It described the true story of her friend, a man who decided to try his ex-girlfriend’s pregnancy test himself. To his surprise and confusion, the results came back positive. Funny? Sure, sort of. But also, Reddit commenters quickly noted, a symptom of…

Health Mario Aguilar

New study confirms our worst fears about why kids are getting fat

You hear scare stories about how kids in the U.S. are gaining weight because of our fast food culture. But is there science to back up the anecdotes? Now there is. Sometimes science makes us say “Duh.” This is one of those times. But a seemingly obvious finding — that children consume more sugar and…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

This Complex 3D Heart Simulator Can Run on Just a Laptop

Supercomputers let us simulate everything from the weather, to a chess match against a master, to how the human body operates. But researchers at Japan’s National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center have created a detailed 3D simulation of a beating human heart that can run on a laptop, allowing even small hospitals to perform research and…

Health Andrew Liszewski

Bionic man scales Willis Tower with the world’s first neurally controlled prosthetic leg

Chicago’s Willis (formerly “Sears”) Tower is one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world — and yesterday it was scaled by amputee/bionic-badass Zac Vawter. Vawter had assistance, of course, albeit in a truly revolutionary form. In a bioengineering first, the 31-year-old — who lost his right leg in a 2009 motorcycle accident — scaled all…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Amazing Dude Climbs 103 Floors on a Brain-Powered Bionic Leg

When Zac Vawter lost his right leg in a motorbike accident, he thought he’d never walk properly again. Now, he’s managed to use a bionic limb, hardwired into his nervous system, to climb 103 flights of stairs in the annual SkyRise Chicago skyscraper climbing contest. Vawter’s prosthetic leg is worth $8 million, weighs 10 pounds…

Health Jamie Condliffe

A Cobb Salad In a Crouton Cone Is a Fantastic Way To Eat Healthy

The unrecognized geniuses over at DudeFoods.com have come up with an absolutely brilliant way to eat healthy. Or at least kind of healthy, depending on how you dress this Cobb salad served in a crouton cone. It sounds pretty easy to make too. All you need to do is mix some crushed store-bought croutons with…

Health Andrew Liszewski

Augmented Reality System Curbs Your Appetite By Making You Think You’ve Eaten Larger Portions

If you’re trying to shed a few pounds but are having a hell of a time with portion control, researchers at the University of Tokyo have created a clever augmented reality system for dieters. A head-mounted display makes it appear as if you’re eating larger portions, which helps fool your mind into thinking you’re full.…

Health Andrew Liszewski

What’s Worse, Hiccups Or This Stick That Claims To Cure Them?

As this promotional video points out, there’s an endless list of ridiculous tricks that will supposedly cure a bout of hiccups. But for whatever reason the makers of the Hiccup Stick-which you bite on while drinking a glass of water-don’t feel this solution ranks among them. Not only that, they want you to shell out…

Health Andrew Liszewski

Amazing and Adorable: 4D Scan Shows a Fetus Yawning in the Womb

How Much Weight You Gained From Your Thanksgiving Dinner

Ignorance Is Bliss When It Comes To Healthy Thanksgiving Portion Sizes

Fingertip Blood Pressure Monitor Does Away With All That Squeezing

This Radiant Fryer Promises Deep Fried Foods Without a Side of Guilt

Crystal Meth Could Stave Off the Flu

How DNA Detectives Saved Dozens of Infants From a Deadly Breakout

New Bacteria-Resistant Hospital Sheets Can Keep You From Getting Sicker

Surviving a plane crash is more common than you probably realize

Doctors Talk to Vegetative Patient Through Brain Scans

Does wealth create peanut allergies?

Will 2040 be the year of the allergy apocalypse?

How a Reddit Rage Comic Saved a Man’s Life

New study confirms our worst fears about why kids are getting fat

This Complex 3D Heart Simulator Can Run on Just a Laptop

Bionic man scales Willis Tower with the world’s first neurally controlled prosthetic leg

Amazing Dude Climbs 103 Floors on a Brain-Powered Bionic Leg

A Cobb Salad In a Crouton Cone Is a Fantastic Way To Eat Healthy

Augmented Reality System Curbs Your Appetite By Making You Think You’ve Eaten Larger Portions

What’s Worse, Hiccups Or This Stick That Claims To Cure Them?

Whatever Just Happened with ‘Fruit Love Island,’ Nobody Won

AMC Puts a Stake in ‘Talamasca’ After One Season

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

2027 Is Shaping Up to Be a Great Year for Big Sci-Fi RPGs

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Ahead of the SpaceX IPO, xAI Has Now Shed All 11 of Its Non-Elon Musk Founders

Do ‘Disclosure Day’ Prep With a Spielberg Sci-Fi Marathon

How to Watch the F1 Japanese GP 2026 on a Free Channel

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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