Search results

Researchers at the University of Iowa have identified two antibodies that, in their words, "blocked tumor creation" in breast cancer and melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. While it's not without reservations, this cancer research is somewhat promising. 

Our oceans, rivers and landfills are getting clogged with plastic bags — especially the kind we get in grocery stores. It's a real problem, since they're not biodegradable. But now researchers have discovered that a caterpillar that lives in bee hives — the wax moth caterpillar — can actually eat the plastic and thrive!

The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on the use of opioid-containing drugs for children. Is this an overreaction? Maybe.

A study suggests that supplemental choline in your diet is "clot enhancing," and therefore bad. Yet studies say we need choline because it prevents chronic diseases. So what's the best approach?

We all understand the impact of a gaping wound, or the wasted appearance of a body overrun by cancer. But often there are more silent and invisible conditions that not only invoke a physical furor, but emotional and psychological pain as well. Type 1 Diabetes is such a malady. Thankfully, major advances are ongoing.
 

Traveling to Italy in the near future? You might want to add "get up to date on your measles vaccines" to your to-do list before jetting away. That's due to a new CDC recommendation, since there's an outbreak currently taking place in Europe's pasta-and-wine paradise.

Any effort to fight fake news is noble and should be applauded. But, if Mr. Wales believes his new venture will be the solution to fake news, it will fall short for at least four reasons. 

Public-health campaigns focusing on reducing smoking have shown that including graphically disturbing images in their messaging can be effective. That approach is now being applied to raising awareness of the dangerous health effects of indoor tanning. A recent study of college-aged women showed mostly promising results.

You've heard of being in a fog while pregnant, but is there science to back this up? A little bit. Watch our video to find out.
Plus, a bonus announcement from Ana Dolaskie.

Director of Medicine Dr. Jamie Wells attended the annual Yale-West Point Civil-Military Service Symposium, where issues of veterans health policy were extensively discussed.

A new paper published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases showed that 3 percent of men who undergo prostate biopsies end up being hospitalized within a month. Worse, half of those hospitalizations are due to an infection – and 45 patients died.
 

Science advocates had been insisting that this weekend's marches were not anti-Republican. While the majority of people attending had an earnest interest in science, they were also duped into believing science was suddenly in peril. Here's a look at that, and some other events that concerned us.

If the "Sky's the Limit" for someone whose ambitions know no bounds, what's the limit for someone who lives above the sky?
A curious soul might like to pose that existential question to Peggy Whitson, as her stay in space reaches record-breaking heights.
Or, better yet, maybe President Trump will do it during his upcoming call with the trailblazing NASA astronaut.

Diet sodas increase your risk of stroke and who knows what else, according to a new, off-based study. But before you you pour all your soda stock down the sink, hear this: That new study has nothing to say about a causal connection between diet drinks and cardiovascular ailments. And here are the reasons why.

The weekly report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the dead and dying is morbidly fascinating. In both men and women, heart disease and cancer are #1 and #2 killers, respectively. However, everything changes after that. 

A new University of Iowa study shows that before their teen years, children do not have the perceptual judgment to safely cross a road with traffic. This affirms common wisdom. It's also why we have school crossing guards for small children.

The IARC monograph program on Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks must be reformed and brought into the 21st century – or it should be abolished

If you have a long commute that consists of sitting on a bus, train or car, it may be time to think differently. A new study found that biking to work reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and all causes of mortality. So, if you want an easy way to make a big improvement in your health, jump on your bike the next time you head to work.  

Bacteria were conquered, at least temporarily, when modern antibiotics arrived on the scene. But the scene has changed. The bugs are fighting back and winning, which is putting us in a dangerous mess. In this chapter of his multi-part series, "What Will the Next Plague Be?" Dr. Steve Schow examines what can happen if we don't come up with better weapons against resistant bacteria.

One way to learn about how antibiotics work is to visualize their accumulation within bacterial cells. But this is no easy feat. So, a team of researchers from Penn State University and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology giant Novartis set about inventing a new technique.

English researchers have "found a new group of cells in the retina that directly affect the biological clock." It's a finding that could lead to eye medication to improve sleep patterns, providing solutions for jet-lag sufferers and drowsy, night-shift workers alike.

Recent research has forged a new reason to take B vitamin supplements — protection from the deleterious cardiovascular effects of air pollution. But the data are far from conclusive and much more work will have to support these results before their utility is proven. In the meantime, don't hold your breath.

It's one year after Berkeley, CA instituted a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, and the results are in. Among them: there was no significant  drop in caloric intake, even using self-reports and their known limitations. So consumers paid a bit more and saw no benefit. 

Like a headache, pneumonia is a symptom or condition. Specifically, it's lung inflammation and it can be lethal. Lacking further information, simply having pneumonia provides no clue as to its underlying cause. Pneumonia can be the result of infection with bacteria, viruses or fungi. Which means there's no such thing as a "pneumonia vaccine."

A history professor at the University of Michigan claimed that carbon dioxide is deadlier than Sarin gas. Although it seemed implausible to the Council's chief chemist, the prof's claim was even more false than we imagined. The things you learn.