Health

Garmin Forerunner 920XT: The Best Triathlon Watch Gets Even Better

Since early 2012, the Garmin Forerunner 910XT has been the best triathlon watch, period. Others have tried to step up, but to this date nothing has equalled its wealth of features. And now it seems Garmin has raised the bar for itself. The new Forerunner 920XT is everything the 910 was, and much more. First,…

Apple’s HealthKit Now Sends Medical Data Right to Your Health Record

iHealth was the first company to sell a medical device through Apple, so it’s only natural it’s also the first to fully integrate its products with Apple’s HealthKit. That means all the data iHealth’s connected monitors and trackers collect not only gets sent straight to the app, it’s also automagically logged in your electronic health…

The Marathon World Record Has Been Broken – What Comes Next?

Kenyan runner Dennis Kimetto set a world record at the Berlin Marathon today, covering a distance of 42.195 km (26.2 miles) a whopping 26 seconds faster than the previous record-holder. Above: Kenya’s Dennis Kimeto crosses the finish line in world record breaking time at this morning’s Berlin Marathon | Photo Credit: Rainer Jenson/AP His time:…

These 14 Handpicked HealthKit Apps Have Their Own iTunes Section

Health, powered by Apple’s HealthKit API, was one of the many lauded features of iOS 8. It’s Apple’s attempt to corral all your health data into one place and also empower disparate health apps with new features. Now, the platform is in full swing, complete with a new iTunes storefront. Right now, Apple’s curated content…

The Case for Staying Home from Work

We’ve all been there. We head to work even though we’re under the weather. It’s such a big problem that it’s gotten a name — “presenteeism” — and it’s costing companies billions of dollars. Here’s why you should just stay home when you’re ill, and why it’s in your boss’s best interest. Illustration by Tara…

The 9 Deadliest Minerals We’ve Ever Mined

Precious minerals make the modern world go ’round—they’re used in everything from circuit boards to tableware. They’re also some of the most toxic materials known to science, and excavating them has proved so dangerous over the years, some have been phased out of industrial production altogether. Here are the nine most toxic minerals we’ve ever…

The Many Ways We’re Using Mutant Mosquitos to Eradicate Disease

Mosquitos suck. It’s not just because of those itchy red bites we all get in the summer, either. Mosquitos suck because they’re the deadliest animals on the planet, and none of our classic strategies from combatting the threat seem to be working. That’s why we’re turning the mosquitos against themselves. In recent years, scientists have…

This Mobile Dialysis Machine Will Clean Your Blood on the Go

The days of hemodialysis patients spending hours upon hours sitting in a hospital lounge while waiting for their blood to be cleaned could soon be a thing of the past—assuming, of course, that the world’s first wearable artificial kidney passes FDA muster later this year. Dubbed the Wearable Artificial Kidney (the WAK), this device is…

How to Build a Breast Pump That Doesn’t Suck

On Sunday afternoon 10 harried but happy teams of hackers shared their inventions in Shark Tank-style five-minute presentations. The goal? To reinvent a clunky necessity of modern parenting: the breast pump. Engineers, healthcare workers, students, moms, and lots of babies gathered at the MIT Media Lab hackathon to tackle this sticky problem. The vibe was…

Old SARS Iso-Tubes Are Keeping Ebola Patients Alive On Planes

When doctors are stricken by the infectious disease they are fighting—the recent and ongoing West African Ebola outbreak, for example—you can’t very well stick them on a commercial flight back to the states for treatment. Instead, highly infectious disease (HID) patients must instead be transported under complete biological isolation inside one of these portable, personal…

A Jacket That Protects You From Germs on Public Transit

The growing bedbug issue on New York’s subways sounds pretty awful, but you know what’s worse? All the parasites and invisible germs you don’t see while taking public transit. You might as well be rolling around in a petri dish when you step on a bus, unless you’ve got protection. Say, gallons of hand sanitizer,…

A new study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics finds children are being prescribed antibiotics almost twice as often as needed. According to the study authors, that adds up to an estimated 11.4 million potentially unnecessary antimicrobial prescriptions a year.

What Are the Real Odds That Your Birth Control Will Fail?

Contraceptives fail a lot more often than you may have realized. Those failure rate statistics that you see are actually a bit misleading — they are for failure rates in a given year. Over time, the risk of failure is compounded. It’s one of those things that makes sense if you stop and think about…

Magnetic Nanobeads Can Snatch Bacteria and Virus Out of Blood

Sepsis is an nasty and surprisingly common way to die. The illness is triggered by blood infections but, ultimately, it’s your own immune reaction—not the bacteria or virus—that poisons you to death. Filtering those pathogens out of blood right away, though, could be a promising treatment. Enter a new device made of magnetic nanobeads coated…

Philips Wants to Cure Aches With Wireless Drug-Free Pain Relievers

There are some pains that are easily resolved with a couple of aspirins and a good night’s sleep. But there are other pains that are far more persistent, and Philips is hoping to provide those that suffer from chronic aches with some drug-free pain relief using a couple of new iPhone-connected devices. The PulseRelief, which…

How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?

The amount of sleep adults need has once again come under the spotlight, with a recent Wall Street Journal article suggesting seven hours sleep is better than eight hours and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine drawing up guidelines surrounding sleep need. So, what should the guidelines say? Unfortunately, when it comes to the amount…

Science Shows Fat Shaming Doesn’t Work – In Fact, It Often Backfires

Overweight and obese people are often the targets of discrimination and teasing. But while some might argue that ‘fat shaming’ encourages weight loss, a new study of nearly 3,000 British adults shows it’s simply not true. This isn’t actually very surprising. Previous research has found that people often resort to comfort eating after being shamed…

Extremely rare case of woman with no cerebellum puzzles doctors

A 24-year-old Chinese woman recently went to the hospital complaining of dizziness and nausea. She was most likely not prepared for the cause of the discomfort. The otherwise healthy grown woman does not have a cerebellum. Amazing—it’s the ninth case in medical history. That’s right. The cerebellum is a fairly sizable part of the brain—the…

Induced Stem Cells Will Be Tested on Humans for the First Time

Back in 2006, when controversy over embryonic stem cell funding was still raging, a piece of research came along that would make the debate essentially obsolete: normal adult cells can actually be reprogrammed into stem cells. No embryos necessary. The technique went on to win its inventor the Nobel Prize. And now, after many years…

Interactive Map Shows The Truth About Who’s Not Vaccinating Kids In LA

A whooping cough epidemic is sweeping across California—and 94% of the cases involve children and infants, for whom the illness can be fatal. Low vaccination rates are responsible for the outbreak. But, surprisingly, it’s the most affluent, educated parents who are opting out of immunization programs. [Image: Indiana Department of Child Services] Nearly 8,000 cases…