Tag: Health

Science

Mail-order abortion medication would increase healthcare access, not risk

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This article was originally featured on The Conversation. For many people, accessing abortion care can be a major challenge. Abortion services are usually only available in certain clinics with specialized equipment like ultrasounds, often requiring long-distance travel to get there. When medication abortion, or abortion with pills, was introduced to the U.S. in 2000, it offered a more accessible option to end pregnancy. However, medication abortion was initially highly regulated and could only be dispensed in person at abortion clinics. Guidelines also required…

Science

You can trick your brain into using your phone less

 Amy  0 82 

This story has been updated. It was originally published on September 24, 2018. Even when it’s silent, your phone is constantly begging for your attention. Maybe you get the urge to see what’s happening on Facebook, even though you just checked 15 minutes ago. Or you feel a phantom vibration in your pocket that turns out to be nothing. Increasingly, our smartphones have become more like appendages we can’t live without. Here’s how to wean yourself off your pocket computer……

Science

A road-tested guide to long drives with young kids

 Amy  0 94 

No matter the distance, getting from point A to point B with a little one in tow is always its own unique travel challenge. I’ve trekked to the very ends of the earth, through 28 of the 50 US states, and explored 14 countries with my now 4-year-old, and I always tell fellow parents that if you have what it takes to carefully plan and execute a successful family outing to a park on the other side of town, you…

Science

Why gardening shouldn’t just be a pandemic-time trend

 Emma  0 78 

This article was originally featured on The Conversation. As lockdowns went into effect in the spring of 2020 to slow the spread of the coronavirus, reports emerged of a global gardening boom, with plants, flowers, vegetables and herbs sprouting in backyards and on balconies around the world. The data backs up the narrative: An analysis of Google Trends and infection statistics found that during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, country-by-country interest in gardening, from Italy to India, tended to…

Science

A mysterious liver disease is sickening kids in the US and Europe

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On April 15, the World Health Organization (WHO) posted an emergency disease outbreak alert that was not strictly about the COVID pandemic. Over the course of the past two weeks, the medical arm of the United Nations has gathered more than 70 reports of acute hepatitis in the UK, Scotland, and Spain. Yearly, millions of people are diagnosed with acute hepatitis around the world. But these cases alarmed WHO officials because they were in kids between the ages of 1…

Science

COVID antiviral pills work against Omicron—when people can get them

 Emma  0 136 

Last week, Pfizer reported that a trio of lab experiments suggest that its COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, will hold up well against the Omicron variant.  The antiviral was authorized in December for people at high risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19. Unfortunately, despite these promising developments, Paxlovid and other COVID-19 treatments are still in short supply across the country. Half of the 20 million Paxlovid treatment courses purchased by the US aren’t expected to be delivered until June, and the…

Gadgets

Health and fitness gadgets from CES 2022

 admin  0 112 

Health tech is always a highlight at CES. Major manufacturers and small upstarts both take big swings, revealing futuristic products for a corner of life that doesn’t change dramatically as often as say, TVs or gaming. The one exception to that is, of course, fitness gear: From smartwatches and fitness trackers to exercise machines like Peleton, there is always an explosion of incremental updates to workout-related gadgets we already know and love. We’re rounding up some of the most interesting…

Science

Why the FDA paused monoclonal antibody treatments

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On Monday evening, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would limit the use of two monoclonal antibody COVID-19 treatments, made by pharmaceutical companies Regeneron and Eli Lilly. Those treatments had been successful at keeping symptomatic patients out of the hospital in earlier waves, but did not work against Omicron, the agency said. A third, less common monoclonal treatment, called sotrovimab, can still be used. The FDA’s decision, based on lab studies of the treatments, mirrors the practices of…

Science

These doctors are fighting to make the kidney-donor system less racist

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Jill Neimark is a writer based in Atlanta, Georgia, whose work has been featured in Discover, Scientific American, Science, Nautilus, Aeon, NPR, Quartz, Psychology Today, and The New York Times. Her latest book is The Hugging Tree (Magination Press). This article was originally published on Undark. On the morning of June 19, 2020—Juneteenth, now a federal holiday—students in the Internal Medicine Residency Program at the University of California, Davis gathered for weekly rounds. Rachael Lucatorto, the associate program director, opened…

Science

Inside the lab using bones to study COVID and hearing loss

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Elizabeth Landau is a science journalist and communicator living in Washington, D.C. She has contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, Quanta Magazine, Smithsonian, and Wired, among other publications. Find her on Twitter at @lizlandau. This story originally featured on Undark. In a narrow medical school hallway, Matt Stewart opened a large cabinet to reveal dozens of shelves stacked with wooden boxes and trays, some at least 100 years old. Stewart, tall and silver-haired, pulled out one of…

Science

How to make Thanksgiving COVID-safe with boosters and rapid tests

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For many families, this will be the first Thanksgiving they’ve been able to celebrate together in two years. Booster shots and vaccines for kids five and older mean that many of the most vulnerable relatives are better protected. But COVID is still circulating, and you might be wondering what you need to do to make sure your family is safe while getting together. Just how cautious you need to be depends on your risk tolerance, and your family and community.…

Science

Which COVID-19 booster should I get?

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Late last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved COVID-19 booster shots for anyone over the age of 18. That decision capped off a chaotic week for booster eligibility, as multiple states offered boosters to anyone who wanted them in hopes of stopping a winter surge. As things stand now, the CDC says that anyone who is over 50 should get a booster. Same goes for residents of nursing homes or other congregate settings, and anyone who received…