Ed Cara

ScienceBiology

1 in 3 Pugs Can’t Even Walk Right

If ever there was an animal that most exemplified a Shakespearean tragedy, it’d be the pug. The same features that have made them Instagram stars and one of the most popular dog breeds—their mushy cubed heads, bulging big eyes, and never-ending folds—also underlie the multitude of health problems from which they suffer. A new study … Continued

ScienceHealth

A New Report Links Cellphone Radiation to Cancer in Rats, but It’s No Smoking Gun

On Friday, the National Toxicology Program (NTP), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, threw fresh kindling onto the smoldering debate over whether cellphones are harmful to our health. It released two draft reports on its extensive, expensive efforts to study the effects of cellphone radiation on both mice and rats. The … Continued

ScienceHealth

The UK Is Officially Letting Doctors Create A 3-Parent Baby

The modern era of the so-called “three-parent baby” has officially kicked off, and it will begin in the UK. According to the BBC, the country’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has granted permission for doctors at the Newcastle Fertility Center to artificially implant two women with an embryo containing the DNA of three people. … Continued

ScienceHealth

The Flu Gets Worse

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided the latest updates on how this winter’s flu season is continuing to shape up. And much like anything else these days, it’s a pile of gloom and doom. The flu killed at least another 16 children this past week, bringing the current tally of pediatric … Continued

ScienceHealth

Scientists Shocked—Shocked!—to Learn Anti-Vaxxers Tend to Believe Other Conspiracies, Too

Spend time talking to someone who considers themselves an anti-vaxxer—or more generously, a vaccine skeptic—and something becomes apparent pretty soon: The conspiracy well usually runs deep. There’s no shortage of anti-vaxxers who also believe in other iffy things, like “natural” cancer treatments and a government-ordered 9/11. A new study, published Thursday in Health Psychology, reaffirms … Continued

ScienceHealth

A Nasal Spray That Shoots Nanosized Opioids to the Brain May Help People Avoid Addiction

As doctors and scientists struggle to turn the tide of the opioid crisis, which killed more than 63,000 Americans in 2016, there are others looking further ahead, trying to create a world where addiction can’t take hold in the first place. One such approach, created by a team of scientists in the U.K., is a … Continued

ScienceBiology

Study: Dogs Bite Anxious People More

If you’ve ever been nervous around a dog and told to just be calm because dogs can “smell fear,” you know that that advice is about as effective as telling a pissed-off person to chill. The sentiment behind that guidance, though, appears to be rooted in some truth: While dogs probably can’t smell fear, they … Continued

ScienceHealth

FDA Wants to Make It Harder For People to Abuse an Opioid Found in Anti-Diarrhea Drugs

Soon enough, U.S. grocery stores and pharmacies may carry a lot less of a popular over-the-counter anti-diarrhea drug. That’s the latest recommendation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is escalating its efforts to reduce the carnage of the opioid crisis. On Tuesday, the FDA announced it would take steps to limit the public’s … Continued

ScienceHealth

Almond Milk Comes Dead Last in New Ranking of Milky Fluids 

In the land of milk and honey, good old-fashioned dairy is still on top—at least so says a recent review published in the Journal of Food Science and Technology this past November. Researchers at McGill University in Canada compared the nutritional content and health benefits of cow’s milk to four popular and unsweetened plant-based milk … Continued

ScienceHealth

Drug Suppliers Flooded Tiny West Virginia Town With 20 Million Painkillers Over 10 Years

There are many causes behind the epidemic of opioid abuse in the U.S., but chief among them are the unscrupulous drug manufacturers and suppliers who turned a blind eye to their products’ addictive potential for the sake of profit. On Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as part of its ongoing investigation into the … Continued

ScienceHealth

Fentanyl Overdoses May Cause Lasting Amnesia

Starting in 2015, doctors in Massachusetts began noticing a wave of typically young patients coming down with unexplained, sometimes permanent short-term memory loss. The only connection found between these patients was a history of recreational drugs; either heroin or cocaine. But these drugs almost never cause the kind of brain damage that results in amnesia, … Continued

ScienceBiology

Naked Mole-Rats Could Theoretically Live Forever, Study Suggests

Among any and all creatures in this world that could be considered living, including people, there is an universal truth: We die. But not all of us go through the gradual (and eventually rapid) process of self-destruction that we think of as aging. Some animals and plants, like species of jellyfish, tortoises, and trees, seem … Continued

ScienceHealth

Five Chinese Children Get Lab-Made Ears Grown From Their Own Cells

Chinese scientists say they’ve accomplished something that’s long been a goal in the world of regenerative medicine—giving someone a new, perfectly compatible (external) ear, freshly grown in the lab. What makes the feat a world-first is that the ear was made using that person’s very own cells. The experimental procedure was performed on five children, … Continued

ScienceHealth

E-Cig Vapor Might Be Carcinogenic, Mice Study Suggests

The growing popularity of electronic cigarettes has led to an increasingly fierce public health dispute—the great vape debate, if you will. On the one hand, there are doctors and advocates who insist that vaping is a relatively safe, appealing way for smokers to wean themselves off much more dangerous tobacco products. On the other, there … Continued

ScienceHealth

Why the Flu Kills Young, Otherwise Healthy People

As one of the worst flu seasons in years continues to sicken people across the U.S., one of its most striking aspects are the untimely deaths it’s caused: A 21-year-old bodybuilder; a 12-year-old boy; a 40-year-old marathoner. Infants, the elderly, and immunocompromised people are always at higher risk of dying from the flu, but how … Continued

ScienceHealth

Oh Joy, The Flu’s Getting Worse

Hold onto your butts (and tissues), folks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a press conference held Friday, announced that the current flu season is still raging, with no signs of letting up yet. Not only that, but assuming things hold, the flu could cause more illness than it has in nearly a … Continued

ScienceHealth

The FDA Is Going After Fake Opioid Addiction Cures

Whenever tragedy rears its head, it’s an inescapable fact that grifters will come around looking for their next victims. The opioid crisis is sadly no exception, and companies marketing so-called natural addiction cures have sprouted up to take advantage of struggling people. Now the federal government—as part of its professed, if inconsistent, pledge to remedy … Continued

ScienceHealth

How Children Feel When They Are High

As both recreational and medicinal marijuana use becomes more accepted in American society—a trend that’s definitely for the better—it’s also making something that isn’t so great more common: Very young kids getting high, usually by accident. Recently, a 9-year-old Albuquerque girl ate and shared her grandfather’s pot gummies with five classmates after mistaking them for … Continued

Tech News

Everyone Hates Horrible Bosses—Except Psychopaths, Who Love Them

You’d think that a terrible, power-mad boss in the workplace would drag everyone’s spirits down. But a recent study published in the Journal of Business Ethics suggests that at least one type of person might actually thrive under an abusive manager: psychopaths. Researchers recruited job-having volunteers and asked how they would react to hypothetical bosses … Continued

Tech News

Scientists Found a Way to Make Inexpensive, Solid-Looking 3D Holograms

Holograms are a mainstay of most any science fiction film set in the not-too-distant future and beyond. But the capabilities of our real-life versions fall drastically short so far. They generally require an extensive set-up, can only be seen correctly from certain angles, and often require special viewing headgear (the famous posthumous performances of Tupac … Continued