Health

Your Yelp Complaints Are Being Used to Track Food Poisoning in NYC

You wake up and there is definitely something wrong with your stomach. Could it be the tacos last night? Oh man, it was definitely the tacos at that dirty joint. So what do you do? You whine about your diarrhea on Yelp as a warning to would-be taco eaters. And now, the health department might…

A Battery-Free, Pocket-Sized CPR Coach Ensures You’re Really Helping

It might look easy, but properly performing CPR to save someone’s life—and not injure them in the process—does require a specific technique. Since not everyone’s taken a first-aid course, the Cardio First Angel serves as an impromptu CPR instructor that ensures you’re doing it right, no matter how limited your medical know-how might be. It’s…

A Woman Replaced Her Soap With a Daily Mist of Bacteria—And It Worked

Since we dirty buggers have already made the case against antibacterial soap, it’s time to consider the case against all soap. And showers. Basically all hygiene as we know it in the 21st century. In the latest New York Times Magazine, Julia Scott gives up soap for a mist of bacteria usually found in dirt—and…

This Electric Helmet Looks Goofy But It Zaps Deadly Brain Cancer

Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive and deadly forms of brain cancer. Nausea-inducing chemotherapy can prolong life by a few months, but there’s another gentler though funnier-looking treatment: a cap that literally zaps the tumor away. The FDA approved this cap, called NovoTTF in 2011, when clinical trials found that it as effective as…

The Truth About Saccharin and Your Health

Saccharin is noted as being the first artificial sweetener, outside of the toxic Lead(II) acetate, and the first product to offer a cheap alternative to cane sugar. Interestingly enough, like the Chocolate Chip Cookie, it was also discovered entirely by accident. The chemical was discovered in 1878/9 in a small lab at Johns Hopkins University.…

How the heart actually works

It pumps blood. Duh. Well, for most of history, people were unsure what the heart’s main function was. Even Leonardo Da Vinci gave up studying it and he’s probably one of the five smartest guys ever. Even now, it’s not as easy as it should be to find out how the ticker works. Don’t worry,…

Finding, Treating, and Beating the Most Survivable Forms of Cancer

Being diagnosed with cancer is often compared to being kicked in the gut—by a Clydesdale. But if caught soon enough, many of the disease’s 200 iterations offer more than even survival rates, five years down the line. It’s by no means a clean bill of health, mind you, but there several forms of cancer that…

A study published in the journalAddiction found e-cigarettes help smokers’ quit — better than patches, gum or willpower. But a research review just published in the journalCirculation finds e-cigs reduce the likelihood that people will quit. I wonder which study insurance companies will side with.

The Science of Losing Belly Fat

A quick internet search will yield countless claims of ways to remove the unwanted fat from around your mid-section. From over-hyped diet pills promising to reduce levels of cortisol to cutting-edge workouts. The truth is that there is no scientifically proven diet pill or exercise that will specifically target your stomachs fat vs the fat…

French Lab Forced to Close After Losing Thousands of SARS Samples

Remember how that prestigious French laboratory lost over 2,000 vials of the SARS virus? Well, now it’s been unceremoniously shut down https://gizmodo.com/france-lost-thousands-of-vials-containing-the-sars-viru-1563797276 According to the AP, the Pasteur Institute has been forced to close it doors following an investigation by the ANSM medical safety agency. The ANSM chief inspector Gaetan Rudant explained that the inspectors…

The Mysterious Disease Traveling Across the Pacific in the Wind

For decades, doctors have been unable to answer the most basic question about Kawasaki disease: what causes it—a virus, a chemical, a fungus? Whatever it is, it provokes mysterious swelling and rashes in infants. Doctors now think they have finally figured out what causes Kawasaki—thanks to an analysis of the wind. Kawasaki disease is most…

How a Rare Medical Condition Could Help Extend All of Our Lives

A handful of girls seem to defy one of the biggest certainties in life: ageing. Virginia Hughes reports. Richard Walker has been trying to conquer ageing since he was a 26-year-old free-loving hippie. It was the 1960s, an era marked by youth: Vietnam War protests, psychedelic drugs, sexual revolutions. The young Walker relished the culture…

The Cancer Gene That Lurks Inside All of Us

Inside every cell in every human body there’s a very special gene, called BRCA1, that regulates how fast cells can divide—and a simple mutation within it can be all that’s required for us to develop cancer. BRCA1—the short name for ‘breast cancer 1, early onset’—is essentially a tumor suppressor: when it functions correctly, it controls…

Even a single alcohol binge can cause serious health problems. According to a new study by the National Institutes of Health, a bout of heavy drinking causes bacteria to leak from the gut and release toxins into the blood—which leads to an excessive production of immune cells that could potentially damage body tissue.

A Massive Dose of Measles Virus Wiped Out This Woman’s Cancer

Stacy Erholtz didn’t have many options to treat her blood cancer left when she agreed to being injected with the equivalent of 10 million doses of measles vaccine. Hours later, she was vomiting and feverish. Months later, her cancer was gone. This landmark result—if replicated in larger clinical trials—could open the door to new therapy…

Your Gluten Sensitivity May Be In Your Head

In 2011, gastroenterologist Peter Gibson published the results of a study that provided some of the strongest evidence to date that gluten can cause stomach problems in people without celiac disease. But Gibson has since called the results of his first study into question, with a rigorous followup investigation. Ross Pomeroy sets the scene over…

Why Can’t You Receive Blood from Someone With a Different Blood Type?

Hot, cold or just plain bad, throughout history, people have used blood as a metaphor to describe their changing moods. One aspect of blood, however, is immutable – its type. Since each blood type carries unique characteristics that can wreak havoc in the wrong body, it is vitally important to know yours and its attributes.…

The World’s Heaviest-Drinking Nations, Ranked

The World Health Organisation has released a new report which reveals the heaviest drinkers in the world—and the U.S. really doesn’t get a look in. The average U.S. resident drinks 9.2 liters of pure alcohol a year, according to the Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2014. Compare that to the 17.5 litres drunk…

How ‘Hyperpalatable’ Foods Could Turn You Into A Food Addict

Over a third of the global population is now overweight, and the percentages are increasing. Some neuroscientists have suggested that the rise of so-called “hyperpalatable foods” may partially explain the unprecedented rates of obesity. Above: The Taco Bell Taco Waffle. Credit: Taco Bell. Our food environment has changed dramatically over the years, most notably through…

This Vibrating, Motor-Powered Pill Wants to Make You Poop

We’ve all been there before: You know you’ve gotta go, but you just can’t seem to make it over the edge. Soon, instead of turning to laxatives for relief, a tiny, swallowable engine may be all you need to whip your colon back into shape. Yep, this vibrating pill wants to make you poop. The…