Health

Doctors say fat people can live as long as thin ones

A study published earlier this year suggests that fat people can be as healthy as thin people. A group of medical doctors tracked the weights and habits of 12,000 people over several years. They found that the people who are most at risk of dying young are those who are obese but do not engage…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Ultrasound Treatment Cures Prostate Cancer Perfectly Nine Times in Ten

A new treatment, using highly focused ultrasound, effectively kills cancerous prostate tumors nine times out of ten. What’s more, the technique produces virtually no side effects and means patients only have to spend a single evening in hospital. Prostate cancer is a massive killer, but existing treatments—such as conventional surgery or radiotherapy—often leave patients with…

Health Jamie Condliffe

Fast-food salt content varies by country. Guess who gets the most?

Fast food is loaded with salt. This should come at no surprise. What is surprising, however, is that the same menu items often have different salt levels depending on where they’re served. According to Scientific American: U.S. dishes from six chains (Burger King, Domino’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Subway) generally contained more…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Artist photoshops the curves off of art history’s goddesses

What if the portraits of the Old Masters were painted in the twenty-first century? According to designer Anna Utopia Giordano, the Venuses of works like Botticelli’s Nascita di Venere would be subjected to the same stringent morphological standards of today’s supermodels and starlets. Here are some postcards from this alternate reality where even Renaissance deities…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

Parents discover “stillborn” baby alive and well in frigid morgue

And the award for parents of the year goes to Argentina’s Analia Bouter and Fabian Veron, for insisting to see their child one last time after a team of obstetricians, gynecologists and neonatologists told them that their baby girl was stillborn — only to discover that the child was, in fact, alive. Doctors had told…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

How I Fixed My Knees and Learned to Walk

When I was a kid, I had bad knees. Really bad. I’d run a mile and limp for weeks. Well past my teenage years and into my early twenties, I thought I was just stuck with these knees. But then I found a way to fix them. It was one of the hardest things I’ve…

Health Brent Rose

Dental X-rays linked to the most common type of brain tumor

One of the most uncomfortable aspects of your dental visit has just been linked to brain tumors. Research published in this week’s issue of Cancer reveals that patients with meningioma — the most commonly diagnosed (but usually benign) brain-growth in the U.S. — were more than twice as likely as people without the tumor to…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

The Flying Ambulance of Tomorrow

In the 1920s, just as some imagined rooftop airports for the aeroplane commuter of the future, others figured there would soon be a market for flying automobiles. The Roaring Twenties brought Americans a new era of mass-produced goods and, with it, an emerging middle class clamoring for newly affordable automobiles. In 1925 you could buy…

Tech News Matt Novak

$65 Emergency Clamps Seal Gashes Faster Than Tourniquets

Dr. Dennis Filips saw his fill of traumatic injury during his tours of Afghanistan with the Canadian Navy. His experiences there has led him to develop the ITClamp, an alternative to conventional tourniquets that glomps onto wounds and prevents bleed-outs. The ITClamp was inspired by hinged hair-clips—the spring-loaded ones with the interlocking combs. Say, as…

Health Andrew Tarantola

Is Everyone You Know an Alcoholic?

Alcoholism is usually viewed as a binary: Either you’re addicted to alcohol or you’re not. Now psychologists are starting to consider the possibility that there are legions of “almost alcoholics” out there who are quietly afflicted but don’t know what to do about it. And from the looks of it, this group could include everyone…

Health Mario Aguilar

Posture-Detecting Monitor Will Nag You If You Slouch

You spend your whole day staring at your monitor, but would it freak you out if your monitor was staring back at you? Phillips’ new ErgoSensor display keeps an eye on your posture and provides suggestions on how you should sit to keep your back and eyes healthy. As its name implies, the new ErgoSensor…

Health Mario Aguilar

Low-income countries are a cigarette’s best friend

Between 1990 and 2009, cigarette consumption in regions of the world like Western Europe dropped by more than 25%. But according to the American Cancer Society’s newly released Tobacco Atlas, these numbers tell just a fraction of a much larger story. According to the extensive report, which you can access in its entirety on tobaccoatlas.org…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

These Nanostars Kill Cancer Without Ever Penetrating a Cell

Everyone can’t stop talking about how nanotechnology is the future of healthcare, but so far we’ve not seen many useful applications. Finally, here’s one: these nano-scale gold stars can kill cancer cells dead without ever entering them. How the hell? Well, these little bad boys have between five and ten points, and come coated in…

Health Jamie Condliffe

From “Irritable Heart” to “Shellshock”: How Post-Traumatic Stress Became a Disease

When people have suffered a violent or horrifying experience, the trauma can follow them around for years — and we call that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). From soldiers to accident victims to rape survivors, tons of people have found themselves haunted by their terrible experiences. But PTSD didn’t enter our vocabulary until 1980, when it…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

When stress makes you healthier

Diabetes. Cardiovascular disease. Depression. These are the effects you typically see associated with stress. While it can cause disease, stress is also good for you. It’s part of important cognitive and physiological functions that extend far beyond keeping us alive in “fight or flight” scenarios. The question, then, is how we can use stress to…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Hearing Aid Vacuums Might Be Handy For Earbud Maintenance

The Renew is a tiny handheld vacuum, with an even tinier syringe nozzle, designed to suck dust, debris, and earwax out of a hearing aid. And as gross as it sounds, it might also be an effective way to improve your headphones’ sound. Particularly if you’re fond of the earbuds that use a silicone insert…

Health Andrew Liszewski

Green coffee bean extract is your next miracle weight loss pill

Ready for the next extract that everyone’s going to be taking to try and lose weight? Move over, green tea; green coffee beans are next up to the plate. Dr. Joe Vinson presented his research at the Spring conference of the ACS, and in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study, the extract actually did quite…

io9 Tim Barribeau

Eat chocolate. Lose weight. Yeah, right.

By now you’ve heard the news: people who eat chocolate are thinner than those who don’t. It’s the perfect news story, and one that a lot of outlets ran with — ourselves included — but it’s also the kind of piece that science writer Deborah Blum says can contribute to public cynicism about science and…

io9 Deborah Blum - Knight Science Journalism Tracker

One capsule could make radioactive liquids potable

In the wake of last year’s disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the world is once again dealing with contamination from a nuclear catastrophe. Now researchers have repurposed mining technology into a capsule that could make radiation tainted water drinkable. Dr Allen Apblett’s research with Oklahoma State University in Stillwater has been presented…

io9 Tim Barribeau

Forget the Pharmacy: Thyme Might Be Your Best Pimple Cure

Growing up, you always assume you’ll reach an age where you’re pimple-free. Never happens. Don’t fret! New research suggests that you can hit up your herb garden instead of shelling out bucks at the pharmacy. A little bit of thyme could clear your skin up better than any cream. Researchers from Leeds Metropolitan University in…

Health Jamie Condliffe

Doctors say fat people can live as long as thin ones

Ultrasound Treatment Cures Prostate Cancer Perfectly Nine Times in Ten

Fast-food salt content varies by country. Guess who gets the most?

Artist photoshops the curves off of art history’s goddesses

Parents discover “stillborn” baby alive and well in frigid morgue

How I Fixed My Knees and Learned to Walk

Dental X-rays linked to the most common type of brain tumor

The Flying Ambulance of Tomorrow

$65 Emergency Clamps Seal Gashes Faster Than Tourniquets

Is Everyone You Know an Alcoholic?

Posture-Detecting Monitor Will Nag You If You Slouch

Low-income countries are a cigarette’s best friend

These Nanostars Kill Cancer Without Ever Penetrating a Cell

From “Irritable Heart” to “Shellshock”: How Post-Traumatic Stress Became a Disease

When stress makes you healthier

Hearing Aid Vacuums Might Be Handy For Earbud Maintenance

Green coffee bean extract is your next miracle weight loss pill

Eat chocolate. Lose weight. Yeah, right.

One capsule could make radioactive liquids potable

Forget the Pharmacy: Thyme Might Be Your Best Pimple Cure

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

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

Ranking 2016’s Superhero Debuts, 10 Years Later

Fourth Most Populous Country in the World Bans Most Social Media for Kids

How to watch UFC Fight Night Adesanya vs Pyfer live this Saturday

‘Steel Ball Run’ Will Return This Year…Eventually

‘The Mummy 4’ Is Getting the Family Back Together

JD Vance Says UFOs Are Actually Demons

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

Let us help find what you are looking for...