Ed Cara

ScienceHealth

E-Cig Vapor Tested Positive for Lead and Arsenic in New Study

A new study, published Thursday in Environmental Health Perspectives, adds more evidence to the idea that e-cigarettes aren’t an entirely risk-free endeavour. It suggests that the very act of vaping might be exposing people to unsafe levels of toxins like lead and arsenic. Researchers at John Hopkins University asked 56 daily e-cigarette users—recruited from vaping … Continued

ScienceHealth

FDA Oversees Kratom Purge After Salmonella Outbreak

It’s no secret that the Food Drug Administration isn’t a fan of kratom, a popular herb purported to help people with digestive problems, chronic pain, and most prominently, opioid withdrawal. So I can only assume the FDA got a small bit of pleasure when it announced it would oversee the destruction of a “large volume” … Continued

Tech News

Social Media Is Corrupting the Youth Slightly Less Than We Feared

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram might not be destroying the minds of The Youth™ as much as we thought, according to a recent review published in Educational Psychology. In some cases, social media could even be helping them do better at school. German researchers analyzed 59 published and unpublished studies that examined the relationship between academic … Continued

ScienceHealth

Alcohol Plays a Much Bigger Role in Causing Dementia Than We Thought

It’s hardly a surprise that too much alcohol is bad for the body, including the brain. But a new study published Tuesday in The Lancet suggests that even doctors are underestimating its impact on our risk of developing dementia. The researchers looked at a nationwide, anonymous database of more than 30 million adult French hospital … Continued

ScienceBiology

How Does a Euthanasia Drug Keep Ending Up in Dog Food?

Owners of very good boys and girls might be perturbed by the latest recall to make the news: 27 brands of dog food pulled from warehouses for possibly containing pentobarbital, a sedative used to euthanize both pets and people alike. As Gizmodo has already reported, the recall concerns wet and canned dog foods manufactured by … Continued

ScienceHealth

Researchers Say They’ve Created a 90% Accurate Blood Test for Autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complicated neurological condition caused by a variety of risk factors, including our genes and environment (but no, not vaccines), that interact in ways we still understand little about. Its symptoms are varied, too—from problems with social interaction to being unable to speak or process sensations normally. This complexity extends … Continued

ScienceHealth

This Season’s Flu Vaccine Isn’t as Ineffective as We Feared

By the time everything’s said and done, this winter’s flu season may very well be the worst in several years, and by some metrics it may even surpass the 2009 pandemic. Some experts have blamed the intensity of this year’s flu in part on a particularly poor vaccine, which was mainly based on research in … Continued

ScienceHealth

The FDA Has Approved the First Blood Test for Concussions

Researchers are only now starting to unravel the potential long-term ramifications of a seemingly minor traumatic brain injury (mTBI), or concussion, to our health. Part of the difficulty has been in even figuring out when someone has a concussion in the first place, leading to lots of unnecessary and not entirely risk-free brain imaging tests. … Continued

ScienceHealth

Scientists Successfully Test a Vaccine in Mice That Could Prevent Many Cancers

Even under the best of circumstances, cancer treatment can be an excruciating, costly ordeal that tragically doesn’t even work sometimes. In light of that reality, scientists and doctors have long searched for a way to proactively head off the problem using a vaccine. One potential approach to a cancer vaccine, highlighted in a new study … Continued

ScienceHealth

Canadian Doctors Warn Medical Pot Is Overhyped

More and more people, young and old, are fast becoming fans of legalized weed, Jeff Sessions notwithstanding. That popularity has been greatly aided by the proliferation of laws that allow it to be used as a medical treatment, not just in the U.S., but in other countries such as Canada, which legalized medical pot in … Continued

ScienceHealth

Kidney Stones Are Getting Diagnosed More, but We’re Not Entirely Sure Why

Passing on a kidney stone is one of the most physically painful things a person can go through this side of childbirth. And a new study published this week in Mayo Clinic Proceedings suggests that they’re seemingly becoming more common. But by how much, and why, we’re still not really sure. Mayo Clinic doctors examined … Continued

ScienceBiology

No One Really Knows When Wild Rabbits Became Fluffy Domesticated Bunnies

Rabbits are a treasured source of companionship, entertainment, and—if you’re living most anywhere besides the U.S.—food. But a new analysis published Wednesday in Cell Press Reviews suggests that whether you turn to folk tales or DNA, there’s no easy way to tell when rabbits actually became part of our domesticated stable. Researchers in the U.K. … Continued

ScienceHealth

After Eight Days of Itchy Eyes, Oregon Woman Finds 14 Worms

It’s a medical discovery you’d hate to be part of: A 26-year-old Oregon woman is believed to be the first human ever reported to be infected with a certain species of eye worm. The woman’s case, reported in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Monday, began in the summer of 2015, soon after … Continued

ScienceHealth

Bed Bugs Are Pooping Histamine Into Our Homes—and Possibly Making Us Sick

There are few living things on earth that can set our nerves more on edge than the aptly named bed bug (Cimex lectularius). Even if you’ve never had the displeasure of being their unwilling blood bank, you probably know someone who has. Since at least the 1990s, bed bugs have started to resist the pesticides … Continued

ScienceHealth

Stoners Celebrating 4/20 May Be Responsible for Annual Bump in Traffic Deaths

4/20 is pretty much the favorite number of the internet (and of Gizmodo’s Slack chat), thanks in part to the growing societal acceptance of weed. Nearly two-thirds of Americans, and maybe even a majority of Republicans, now support its legalization. But a new study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that America’s boisterous celebration … Continued

ScienceHealth

New Drugs Extend Lives of Men With Resistant Form Of Prostate Cancer

As a general rule, cancer patients have to worry about the possibility that their cancer will return with a vengeance, no matter how successful their initial treatment course may have been. But some men with prostate cancer are left in an even more nerve-wracking state of uncertainty. Their cancer appears practically frozen, not spreading elsewhere … Continued

ScienceHealth

Scientists Have Mapped Out How Our Genes Might Lead to Mental Illness

It’s often said mental illness runs in the family. But while that’s true, scientists have had very little luck actually understanding how our genes influence our risk of developing major depression or schizophrenia. New research published Friday in Science seems to provide something big needed for that greater insight: A roadmap of how genes are … Continued

ScienceHealth

As the Winter Games Begin, Norovirus Continues to Spread at an Alarming Rate

The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea is quickly resembling a terrible cruise, thanks to a norovirus outbreak that’s rapidly spreading. On Thursday, Korean health officials reported, there were 42 new cases diagnosed, bringing the tally up to 124 confirmed cases in total. Most of these cases have involved security staff at the Horeb … Continued

ScienceHealth

Suicides Spiked After Robin Williams’ Death: Study

Robin Williams’s death by suicide in August 2014 was one that figuratively broke the hearts of people worldwide. But a new study published today in PLOS-One suggests that the salacious media coverage surrounding his death may have inadvertently inspired even more tragedy—and deaths— in its wake. Researchers at Columbia University looked at suicide data from … Continued

ScienceHealth

This Molecule Could Prevent Cancer Patients From Losing Their Lunch

One of the worst side-effects of cancer treatment is the inadvertent damage it causes to the gastrointestinal (GI) system, leading to nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. While there are short-term treatments available to help deal with these symptoms, oftentimes the damage can lead to chronic GI problems. Now, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh say they’ve … Continued