Health

The WHO has released its latest look into the state of malaria worldwide — and the news is both good (malaria-related deaths have fallen by half since 2000 and contraction has fallen by about a third) and bad (doctors are also seeing increasing resistance to existing medicines). You can check out the full report here.

The Soaring U.S. Outbreak of Vaccine-Preventable Disease, Visualized

Mealses, mumps, polio, rubella, whooping cough… All diseases that are eminently preventable by vaccination. But, as this data visualization shows, while their incidence has decreased by 57 percent around the world between 2008 and 2014, in the U.S. it’s soared by 6,000 percent. There is, of course, one very compelling reason why whooping cough became…

Researchers have found that male smokers are up to four times more likely to have blood cells with no Y chromosome than nonsmokers. That’s worrisome, they say, because a recent study found an association between Y chromosome loss and a shorter life span, as well as a higher risk of multiple cancers.

Why Do Our Immune Systems Falter In Space?

Blasting off into space has a lot of strange consequences for the human body. One of the weirdest, though, is the slow flagging of the immune system in microgravity. So, just what’s happening to your body’s defenses? The exact mechanism behind why our immune systems become less effective in space isn’t completely understood yet. What…

‘Detoxing’ Is Bullshit

Eating healthy is one thing, but unless you’re treating a drug addiction, “detoxing” is nonsense, from a medical perspective. Case in point: Companies that peddle detox diets can’t even name the toxins they’re supposedly ridding your body of. Here’s The Guardian’s Dara Mohammadi: Much of the sales patter revolves around “toxins”: poisonous substances that you…

Don’t Walk, Run To Keep Your Legs Young

More evidence that running is good for you. New findings out of the University of Colorado’s Locomotion Laboratory show that runners in their 60s and 70s are more efficient walkers than seniors who walk regularly for exercise. Top Photo: Warein | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Walking ability tends to decline with age. To test whether walking…

What Is It Like To Follow your Heart, When You Have Two Of Them?

A growing body of evidence suggests that the emotions we experience, while seated in the brain, are heavily influenced by cardiac awareness (literally the attention you pay to the activity of your heart). Now, researchers have turned to a man with two hearts, to study this enigmatic brain/body relationship. Over at BBC Future, David Robson…

A UK Government Lab Accidentally Mailed Out Live Anthrax 

The Centers for Disease Control has some dubious competition in the mishandling deadly pathogens business. A investigation by theGuardian reveals dozens of serious safety lapses in UK labs. In one case, a government lab shipped out live anthrax because someone had grabbed the wrong tubes. TheGuardianfound 70 incidents in the past five years at UK…

10 Diseases That Might Afflict Us In The Future

Today, humans suffer from a wide range of diseases and disorders that didn’t exist in the past, a trend that will likely continue well into the future. Here are 10 unexpected and wholly unpleasant diseases we’ll eventually have to contend with. Top image: A scene from Floris Kaayk’s Metalosis Maligna, a short film featuring a…

Giving Up Those Late Night Snacks Could Be More Effective Than Dieting

A new study is cautioning against those late-in-the-day trips to the refrigerator. Because the evidence suggests that, when it comes to our health, it’s not just what you eat, but when you eat it. Okay, right off the bat I need to tell you that this study only considered the health benefits of time-restricted feeding…

This 5-Year-Old Boy Is Battling Cancer Dressed As A Ninja Turtle

Meet Harley Renshaw, a brave 5-year-old from Britain who has created a Ninja Turtle superhero costume to help him face months of grueling treatments as he fights a rare form of cancer. Harley was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer, which he is fighting in his kidney, neck, lung, and bones. The…

How Scientists Gained the Ability to Reverse Overdoses

Naloxone can reverse an otherwise fatal heroin overdose within minutes. Carrie Arnold meets the doctors who put this remarkable drug in the hands of the police, families and addicts—and saved thousands of lives. Alexander Walley was a twentysomething medical student when he witnessed the power of naloxone. It was the midnight shift at the Emergency…

Remember the 90s Panic That Power Lines Caused Cancer?

“The potential danger from EM fields is making millions of human beings into test animals,” Ted Koppel solemnly intones in a 1990 Nightline report on electromagnetic fields from power lines. But two decades and hundreds of studies later, there has been no great cancer epidemic caused by power lines. Why did we get so scared…

An Xbox One Wearable Might Monitor Couch Potatoes’ Heart Rates

Microsoft is said to be working on a fitness wearable that would work alongside its Xbox One games console. Source of the rumours is Joe Officer, who leads Xbox One component supplier Exertis. “The wearable market is always growing and we can expect to see Microsoft rolling out a spate of devices next year in…

Canadian Feds Don’t Like How Medical Marijuana Is Being Promoted

Health Canada has issued a stern warning to licensed commercial growers across Canada, telling them to revamp their advertising — or else, they might receive a suspension or revocation of their licenses. The problem? Apparently they’re making marijuana look too good. As the CBC is reporting, the Canadian government has set strict limits on how…

Cows With Human Chromosomes Can Now Make Human Antibodies 

Cows are big hulking creatures—not so great for tipping over while drunk, but great for turning into living factories that make massive quantities of antibodies. Scientists have inserted a modified human chromosome to cows that can now make human antibodies for hantavirus. Other deadly disease like Ebola and MERS could come next. Antibodies are proteins…

Can the Design of Hospitals Help Patients Recover Faster?

Can the way hospitals are designed improve the experiences of staff and visitors, and even the recovery of patients? Lucy Maddox finds out. “If one room can alter how we feel, if our happiness can hang on the colour of the walls or the shape of a door, what will happen to us in most…

Gates Foundation Will Require All Its Research To Be Freely Accessible

Do you believe that scientists should make their research open, so that anyone can read and learn from it? Then this news will make your day. The Open-Access Movement just gained a very powerful ally. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation yesterday announced the details of its open access policy – and it looks impressive.…

Why You Get Sick On Planes – And How To Keep It From Happening

If you’re about to fly somewhere for Thanksgiving, you’re probably dreading the possibility that you’ll catch a bug along the way, and with good reason: Many people come down with something nasty in the days following an airplane flight. Why does this happen, and how can you keep yourself from getting sick? A couple I…

Sugary drinks are now the number one source of junk-food calories for kids, says a new report from Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity on the amount and kinds of sugary drinks being knocked back today. While soda consumption has fallen a bit, energy drinks just keep on picking up.