Health

How much caffeine are you eating every day, without realizing it?

90% of North Americans consume caffeine on a daily basis. When ingested by itself, caffeine is extremely bitter — not the type a flavor many of us want lingering on our taste buds. But some foods offer substantial amounts of caffeine, while others are packed with it synthetically. How many cups of coffee are you…

io9 Keith Veronese

I’d Be More Relaxed Not Sticking My Hand Inside This Mysterious Massager

This reflexology massager promises to reduce stress and discomfort from prolonged typing, but I’d be a little hesitant about sticking my hand inside its mysterious dark opening. Five fingers go in, but who knows how many will come out? I might sound a little paranoid, but my steadfast rule of not sticking my hands inside…

Health Andrew Liszewski

Scientists Transform Deadly Plant Into Cancer Killing Smart Bomb

The ancient Greeks called the thapsia garganica plant “deadly carrot,” because their camels would eat it and quickly die. The Roman emperor Nero mixed it with frankincense to treat bruises. Until the early 20th century it was used in a plaster to treat rheumatism—the side effects, however, were barely worth the cure. But what happens…

Health Kristen Philipkoski

According to the FDA, Your Stem Cells Are Now Drugs

In recent court filings, the Food and Drug Administration has asserted that stem cells—you know, the ones our bodies produce naturally—are in fact drugs and subject to its regulatory oversight. So does that make me a controlled substance? The bizarre controversy revolves around the FDA’s attempt to regulate the Centeno-Schultz Clinic in Colorado that performs…

Health Andrew Tarantola

This Is NASA’s Cancer-Sniffing Cellphone Sensor

What if you could use your phone to test the air for toxins? What if you could monitor your health simply by blowing on it? Sounds amazing, right? Nanosensor technology developed by NASA Ames is going to make that a reality. Jing Li, a scientist at NASA Ames, has been working for years on what…

Space & Spaceflight Brent Rose

Scientists say sugar is as toxic as alcohol – and there should be a drinking age for soda

Sure, sugar’s bad for you. But should we establish a drinking age for sugary sodas? According to UC San Francisco pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig, the answer is emphatically yes. He says that added sweeteners have health effects comparable to alcohol and tobacco, and should be regulated accordingly. In a comment piece for the journal Nature,…

io9 Sophie Bushwick

Would people abuse a marijuana mouth spray? Absolutely. Does it matter? Absolutely not.

British pharmaceutical company GW Pharmaceuticals has developed a medical marijuana drug called Sativex. The drug is delivered orally via a spray pump, and is the first of its kind to be produced by extracting high-inducing cannabinoids like THC (pot’s primary psychoactive ingredient) from the cannabis plant itself. GWPharma is slated to wrap up clinical trials…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

In the 1800s, binding a book with your own dead skin made a lovely gift

Skin-bound books may sound like weird artifacts that belong in Evil Dead movies or Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. But from the 1600s to 1800s, these suede-like tomes were less necromancy, more commemorative plate. And hell, converting yourself into a human moleskine upon kicking the bucket made for a heartfelt present. The pre-anesthesia surgery blog The…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

Welcome to Space Camp

When you were a kid, did you dream of going into space? Maybe you had a coloring-book about a lunar voyage. Or maybe you and your best friend tried to create anti-gravity out of cleaning products and accidentally killed a tree in your front yard. Y’know, hypothetically. If any of this sounds even remotely familiar,…

Space & Spaceflight Brent Rose

Men could soon blast their balls with soundwaves to prevent pregnancy

What if the male version of the birth control pill wasn’t a pill at all? Scientists from the University of North Carolina say a non-oral form of male contraception is on the horizon. According to researchers, all it takes to be effective is a couple blasts of high frequency sound waves…delivered straight to the testicles.…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

NDM-1: The Bacterial Gene That’s Resistant to 15 Different Antibiotics

Standing as the most densely populated city in the world, New Delhi has plenty of public health issues to deal with on a constant basis. But now health officials have some very urgent matters to deal with: new strains of super-bacteria, the most destructive of which contain the gene dubbed NDM-1 and are resistant to…

Health Adrian Covert

The next time you’re stranded on an island with only one food source, make sure it’s breast milk

What would happen if you tried to survive on just one type of food? The short answer: you would die. Of course, how you died (organ failure, muscle-wasting, rapidly spreading pustular wounds… some combination thereof) would depend entirely on which type of food you decided to ride out your last weeks/months/years of life consuming. Unless…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Stem cells prevent blindness, suggests first-ever human trial

It’s one of the biggest milestones for stem cells since their discovery. Researchers yesterday published the first results of a clinical trial where doctors transplanted of stem cells into the eyes of patients suffering from a form of progressive blindness. And the preliminary results look very good. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) were first discovered…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Do you reside somewhere on the autism spectrum? In the near future, you may not.

For the first time in seventeen years, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (D.S.M.) is undergoing a significant revision. One of the mental conditions facing major emendations in its D.S.M. definition is autism. If the changes go through, a recent analysis suggests that the rate of official diagnosis for autism,…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Everything You Need To Recover From a Trade Show In the Desert

While we look back fondly at our adventures, we still get home feeling the effects of madly trying to cover every square inch of the technological Shangri-La known as CES. The walking, the running, the talking, the food, and the dry air can really take their toll after a week spent in Las Vegas. And…

Health Andrew Liszewski

Scientists Use Spectroscopy to Study Black Holes, Stars, and Now Cervixes

Scientists use spectroscopy to examine the make-up of celestial objects. Now, they’re taking the technology in a decidedly different direction and using it to detect cervical cancer. Over the past decade, Guided Therapeutics has identified cellular markers specific to cervical cancer cells, which their new device identifies by shining a spectrum of light on the…

Health Kristen Philipkoski

Is Today the Most Depressing Day of the Year?

Short answer: no. Longer answer: still no. Unless you believe the pseudo-scientific ramblings of psychologist Cliff Arnall, of course, who once developed an equation he thought could predict the day we all feel most depressed. Based on a whole bunch of arbitrary variables — like “debt”, “motivation”, “weather” and “need to take action” — Arnall…

Health Jamie Condliffe

An MRI-Powered Robot Can Swim Through Your Guts

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing endoscopy, you’ll think there must be a better way to check out your insides than having a camera shoved up your ass. Now there is, and it’s robotic! Let’s get the best news over to you first: it’s also small. Phew. In fact, the little robot, refereed…

Health Jamie Condliffe

It Burns! FX-Neo Mint Eye Drops Sound Excruciatingly Painful

Eye drops were an important part of our CES toolkit while we stared at thousands of TVs in the desert. But these mentholated FX-Neo drops from Japan sound like the worst thing you could ever put in your eye. The idea is that the blast of mint is supposed to freshen your eyes the same…

Health Andrew Liszewski

This New Army Tourniquet Is Going to Save a Bunch of Lives

The next time you find yourself with an extra external hole in your gut, you’d better hope one of these new tourniquets is on-hand. Otherwise, you could well die. When you’ve been shot in the abdomen, the slug often ruptures major organs as it passes through, resulting in severe bleeding. And, if a soldier is…

Health Andrew Tarantola

How much caffeine are you eating every day, without realizing it?

I’d Be More Relaxed Not Sticking My Hand Inside This Mysterious Massager

Scientists Transform Deadly Plant Into Cancer Killing Smart Bomb

According to the FDA, Your Stem Cells Are Now Drugs

This Is NASA’s Cancer-Sniffing Cellphone Sensor

Scientists say sugar is as toxic as alcohol – and there should be a drinking age for soda

Would people abuse a marijuana mouth spray? Absolutely. Does it matter? Absolutely not.

In the 1800s, binding a book with your own dead skin made a lovely gift

Welcome to Space Camp

Men could soon blast their balls with soundwaves to prevent pregnancy

NDM-1: The Bacterial Gene That’s Resistant to 15 Different Antibiotics

The next time you’re stranded on an island with only one food source, make sure it’s breast milk

Stem cells prevent blindness, suggests first-ever human trial

Do you reside somewhere on the autism spectrum? In the near future, you may not.

Everything You Need To Recover From a Trade Show In the Desert

Scientists Use Spectroscopy to Study Black Holes, Stars, and Now Cervixes

Is Today the Most Depressing Day of the Year?

An MRI-Powered Robot Can Swim Through Your Guts

It Burns! FX-Neo Mint Eye Drops Sound Excruciatingly Painful

This New Army Tourniquet Is Going to Save a Bunch of Lives

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

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