Ed Cara

ScienceHealth

An Experimental Drug for Obesity Shows Promise in Treating Alzheimer’s—At Least in Mice 

The race to find a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia is littered with false starts, dead ends, and fiery crashes. That caveat aside, there has been some promising research indicating a class of drugs originally created to control diabetes and fight obesity could also help slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s. … Continued

ScienceAnimals

A 2-Year-Old Chimp Named Betty Died From Common Cold Virus We Didn’t Even Know Chimps Could Catch

Since time immemorial, humans have had a knack for being complete and utter dicks to the other animals we share our planet with. Often, we even manage to screw things up for other species without meaning to. A study published earlier this month in the journal of Emerging Infectious Disease has retroactively uncovered one such … Continued

ScienceHealth

Is Video Game Addiction Real?

The World Health Organization is on the verge of officially recognizing a phenomenon that researchers have been studying since the Super Nintendo era: video game addiction. Scientists and public health advocates who back the move say that compulsive video-game playing is a discrete disorder that can seriously damage a person’s mental and physical health. But … Continued

Tech News

Your Selfie Obsession May Be Real, But ‘Selfitis’ Is a Fake Disease

From the annals of bad science reporting comes this latest confusion: Media outlets completely misconstrued the results of a study about a supposed selfie mental disorder—a study that itself was inspired by a hoax that also fooled media outlets three years earlier. Some of the headlines, blared from even reputable outlets like The Guardian, include: … Continued

ScienceHealth

Marijuana Use by Pregnant Women Is on the Rise in California 

The number of moms-to-be who smoke pot while pregnant is higher than we thought and only growing, a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests. While smoking weed might seem like a perfectly harmless way to relieve stress in most cases, there’s still a lot we don’t know about if … Continued

Tech News

Japanese Scientists Made a Sweating Robot That Can Finally Pull Off a Sweet Training Montage

Japanese scientists are hard at work trying to create the only kind of robot that matters in this hopeless hellworld: one capable of pulling off an inspirational training montage, glistening robo-muscles and all. Their latest efforts have been detailed in a paper published in Science Robotics earlier this month, complete with videos that show off … Continued

Tech NewsNews

Drug Company Allegedly Bribed Doctors to Sell Its Powerful Opioid Spray

The State of North Carolina is suing a pharmaceutical manufacturer for allegedly bribing doctors and defrauding insurers in order to sell more of its powerful fentanyl spray, fanning the flames of the opioid crisis that has millions addicted and is shortening lifespans. Last Thursday, Reuters reported, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein filed a lawsuit … Continued

Tech NewsGoogle

The Holidays Make Us Horny, Google Searches Reveal

For those of you already weary of the Christmas cheer, a new study published this week in Scientific Reports might put some pep in your step: It suggests the holiday spirit gets people more in the mood for boning, no matter where you live in the world and when you might celebrate it. Starting first … Continued

ScienceHealth

Married People Are Even More Annoyingly Happy Than We Thought

If it weren’t already vomit-inducing to see your social feeds taken over by newly married friends’ smug selfies and declarations of love, a pair of new studies released this week will only add to the resentment: Married couples who stay together ultimately end up happier and healthier than everyone else. One study, published in the … Continued

ScienceHealth

The Opioid Crisis Has Again Shortened US Life Expectancy

The specter that is America’s opioid crisis claimed a record high number of lives—more than 40,000—this past year, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found. And the collective destruction of the epidemic has helped lower the nation’s life expectancy for the second time in two years. The CDC’s National … Continued

ScienceHealth

Nothing We Know of Stops Dementia: Broad Review Rules Out Drugs, Exercise, and Brain-Training Games

Few afflictions carry the existential dread that dementia does. Five-and-half million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, and the gradual loss of memory and motor skills it causes. In 2014 alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alzheimer’s led to nearly 100,000 deaths, making it sixth … Continued

ScienceHealth

Terminally Ill Black Americans Receive Worse Hospice Care Than Whites

Many studies have shown that black Americans receive poorer health care than whites—and that appears to be true even during end-of-life care, suggests a new study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The study found that black people enrolled in home hospice care, which is designed to help terminally ill patients … Continued

ScienceHealth

Experimental Heroin Vaccine Triggers the Immune System So Mice Can’t Get High

One of the white whales of vaccine research—a cure for addiction—is a very small step closer to reality. Last week, researchers working at the Walter Reed Army Center published a study showing that their experimental vaccine was able to block the euphoria-inducing effects of heroin and other commonly abused opioids in mice and rats. Almost … Continued

ScienceHealth

California Warns People to Limit Exposure to Cellphones 

Since the earliest days of mobile phones, a small but steady contingent of environmental activists, conspiracy-inclined folks, and some scientists have warned about the hidden damage they could be causing to our bodies, due to the radio frequency energy cellphones use to communicate with cell towers. They fear that this non-ionizing radiation could penetrate our … Continued

ScienceHealth

Ketamine Relieved Suicidal Thoughts Within Hours in Hospital Study

When it comes to preventing suicide, true breakthroughs are hard to come by. The overall rate of suicide in the U.S. has increased since the turn of the millennium, reaching a 30-year-high in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And although there are many drugs and therapy approaches available for people … Continued

ScienceHealth

The Doctor Who Branded a Patient’s Liver With His Initials Just Pled Guilty to Doing It Twice

Some people commemorate time spent together by etching their names onto an old tree or desk; others might get matching tattoos; and some just send a card. None of these gestures of love and camaraderie were enough for British surgeon Simon Bramhall, who burned his initials into at least two of his patients’ livers. Another … Continued

ScienceHealth

Bad News, Male Virgins: You Could Already Have HPV

If there’s one trick that terrible sex-ed programs rely on to scare teens out of boning, it’s the idea that only abstinence can keep you safe from spiritual ruin and disease. But a new study published in The Journal of Infectious Disease seems to undercut even the basic premise of that scare tactic: Being a … Continued

Tech News

A New Type of Steel Kills Bacteria With Nanospikes

In an age when bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to our best antibiotics and the words “E. coli” can shut down your favorite local Chipotle, people are desperate for anything that promises to wipe out germs. Unfortunately, when it comes to cleaning products that label themselves “antimicrobial,” they’re largely a pile of overpriced trash. Not … Continued

Tech News

No, Science Did Not Just Prove Playing Super Mario 64 Prevents Dementia

For almost anyone who grew up playing video games in the 90s, Super Mario 64 was a blocky rite of passage. But it’s not just gamers who have taken to the mustachioed hero lately. More recently, scientists have to begun to test whether games like Super Mario 64 could be used to keep people mentally … Continued

ScienceHealth

That ‘Man Flu’ Study Is From BMJ’s Irresponsible Holiday Issue (Updated)

Every December, for about the last 30 years according to the New York Times, the BMJ (formerly known as the British Medical Journal) publishes a batch of studies and papers that sound way more fun than the typical science fare. Last year, for instance, a Stanford epidemiologist asked whether caviar could be a risk factor … Continued