Ed Cara

ScienceBiology

Scientists Gave Mice a Psychedelic Drug to Figure Out How We Hallucinate

Seeing something that isn’t there can be one of the strangest, frightening, and baffling experiences a person can have. But scientists at the University of Oregon say they’ve come a bit closer to understanding what happens in the brain when we hallucinate—and all they had to do was trip out some poor mice. Given that … Continued

ScienceHealth

The Newest Opioid Lawsuit Is Going Right After the Sackler Family 

An enormous federal lawsuit out of New York is the latest and most brazen attempt to explicitly tie the billionaire Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, to the opioid crisis. It accuses them of knowingly misleading the public about the addictiveness of their drugs, as well as turning a blind eye to doctors who were … Continued

ScienceHealth

Researchers Create Fake Profiles on 24 Health Apps and Learn Most Are Sharing Your Data

Using apps to keep track of your medication or look up the symptoms of your latest mysterious illness might be convenient. But a new study out this week highlights the hidden privacy risks of plugging sensitive health information into your smartphone. Namely, that medical apps love to collect your data, but are only sometimes upfront … Continued

ScienceHealth

Kentucky Family Sues Local Health Department Over School Ban of Unvaccinated Children

A Kentucky teen and his family are suing their local health department over its attempt to protect the public from the chickenpox virus. The lawsuit alleges that health officials violated the First Amendment rights of the boy, Jerome Kunkel, by banning him and other unvaccinated students from attending school or extracurricular activities at Assumption Academy, … Continued

ScienceHealth

New Postpartum Drug Is the Second Wholly Different Depression Treatment to be Approved This Month

New mothers suffering from postpartum depression finally have a treatment approved specifically for them. It’s the second drug this month approved by the Food and Drug Administration to address depression in a dramatically different way. But the treatment won’t come without serious restrictions on its use, nor will it necessarily be cheap. On Tuesday, the … Continued

ScienceHealth

A 14-Year-Old’s Schizophrenia-Like Psychosis May Have Been Caused by Cat Bacteria

Doctors have started to come around to the idea that hidden bacteria and viruses in the body can affect our mental health and, over the long term, contribute to diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s. But a case study out this week is the latest to suggest that certain germs can cause much more immediate and … Continued

Tech News

Scientists Might Have Found a Way to Thwart Deadly Superbug Outbreaks in Space

For years now, scientists have sounded the alarm about a potential nightmare for astronauts on the International Space Station: antibiotic-resistant superbugs that could be even more dangerous in space than they are on Earth. This week, research say they’ve found a way to better prevent such hardy bacteria from growing on surfaces of the ISS. … Continued

ScienceHealth

Opioid Maker Purdue Promises Not to Profit from Its New Overdose Antidote

One of the major instigators to the opioid crisis is looking to sell its own drug to save people from deadly overdoses—but the company swears it won’t be pocketing the profits. This week, the drug company Purdue Pharma announced that its experimental opioid overdose antidote was granted a “Fast Track” designation by the Food and … Continued

ScienceHealth

Eating Lots of Eggs Might Be Bad Again

Breakfast sandwich fans beware: Eating too many eggs might be bad for your health… again. A new study released Friday found that daily consumption of a certain amount of cholesterol, a key nutrient of eggs, is linked to a modest increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease and early death. The findings, if valid, could … Continued

ScienceHealth

Teens and Young Adults Are More Depressed Now Than in the Mid-2000s

Teens and young adults are in the midst of a unique mental health crisis, suggests a new study out Thursday. It found that rates of depressive episodes and serious psychological distress have dramatically risen among these age groups in recent years, while hardly budging or even declining for older age groups. Lead author Jean Twenge, … Continued

ScienceHealth

The Inactive Ingredients in Pills Can Cause Side Effects, Too

The annoying, even life-threatening, side effects of a medication may not actually be caused by the drug itself, explains a new study out Wednesday. Sometimes, the stuff used to make pills go down easier—the inactive ingredients—could trigger a person’s allergies or intolerances. Doctors have occasionally spotted cases of allergy brought on by a drug’s inactive … Continued

ScienceHealth

Doctors Are Prescribing Fewer Opioids, but Not Always for the Right Reasons 

Doctors are starting to give out significantly fewer new opioid prescriptions to their patients, according to a study this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. But some are continuing to prescribe possibly dangerous doses, while others have—perhaps unnecessarily—stopped prescribing opioids altogether. In 2016, following years of pressure to address the opioid crisis, the … Continued

Tech NewsPolitics

The New Interim Head of the FDA Seems Mercifully Normal

Scott Gottlieb’s immediate replacement as head of the Food and Drug Administration will be Norman “Ned” Sharpless, the current director of the National Cancer Institute, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Sharpless will serve as the FDA’s interim chief once Gottlieb departs in less than a month. Azar’s declaration came during a … Continued

ScienceHealth

Study Finds Alarming Number of Preteens Who Visit the ER Have Thoughts of Suicide

A sobering new study out Monday suggests that many preteens who visit the emergency department could be in dire need of help to address their suicidal ideation. It found that a substantial number of children between the ages of 10 to 12 who went to the hospital screened positive for suicide risk. Researchers at the … Continued

ScienceHealth

Will 23andMe’s New Type 2 Diabetes Test Actually Help People Be Healthier?

23andMe has added a new option to its health-focused genetic testing array: type 2 diabetes. This week, the company announced it will begin offering customers a report meant to predict their inherent risk of developing the chronic disorder. The report was created through in-house research conducted entirely with the DNA of existing 23andMe customers—an apparent … Continued

ScienceHealth

I Love Vaccines. Which Ones Can I Get as an Adult?

The anti-vaccination movement has more than earned its latest round of bad press. The U.S. is currently dealing with several outbreaks of measles, a disease effectively wiped out by routine childhood vaccination in the country two decades ago. And just this week, Oregon doctors reported that a six-year-old boy had to endure months of excruciating … Continued

ScienceHealth

It Took Two Months and Nearly a Million Dollars to Save an Unvaccinated 6-Year-Old From Tetanus

A new case report from the Centers for Disease Control released Thursday starkly highlights the costs of not vaccinating children. It details an unvaccinated 6-year-old boy’s encounter with tetanus—and the hugely expensive, two-month-long effort it took to save his life. Tetanus is caused by the namesake bacteria Clostridium tetani. More accurately, it’s what happens when … Continued

SciencePhysics & Chemistry

CERN Drops Italian Scientist Who Complained About Women in Physics

Last September, Italian physicist Alessandro Strumia gave a bizarre lecture at CERN in which he argued—to an audience of young women scientists—that women are less qualified to conduct physics than men. On Thursday, CERN officially severed its association with Strumia. The workshop, hosted by CERN (the research organization in charge of the Large Hadron Collider), … Continued

ScienceHealth

How Is Taking Ketamine for Depression Different From Falling Into a K-Hole?

You’ve probably heard a lot about ketamine this week, thanks to the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to approve a nasal spray based on the drug as a new depression treatment. But given ketamine’s long-standing reputation as a recreational drug—so notorious that users talk about entering a “K-hole” after taking it—you might have some questions … Continued

ScienceHealth

Ketamine Is Now an FDA-Approved Depression Treatment, but Who Will Be Able to Get It?

This week, the Food and Drug Administration approved Johnson & Johnson’s Spravato, the nasal spray version of a ketamine-like sedative, for certain cases of depression. And the drug is already being heralded as a “game-changer” for depression and suicide treatment. But chief among the major questions the average person might have about the new drug … Continued