Beth Mole
A common flu strain all but vanished last winter. Could COVID have pushed it to extinction?
Many subtypes of the influenza virus all but vanished. But most notably, one entire lineage—one of only four flu groups ...
Vaccine mandate war: Is it unethical for health workers to forgo COVID shots?
On [July 13], seven health organizations—including the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the Association for Professionals in Epidemiology and ...
FDA shuts down sales of homeopathic shots containing toxic lead, mercury, strychnine
[The FDA cracked down] on four homeopathic companies selling injectable products said to contain highly toxic substances, including lead, mercury, ...
‘Sloppy’ CDC lab practices blamed for tainted coronavirus tests in early stages of pandemic
As the new coronavirus took root across America, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent states tainted test ...
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop under fire again for ‘exploiting health issues in order to make money’
Gwyneth Paltrow’s contextual commerce company Goop is still making more than a dozen false and misleading health claims about the ...
Stepping in Goop: Gwyneth Paltrow’s Netflix series promotes ‘junk science, gibberish and unproven health claims’, says microbiologist
In the third episode of Goop's Netflix series, a female guest remarks that we women are seen as "very dangerous ...
‘Eye of Sauron’: Man’s strange eyes linked to rare genetic condition
Doctors in Texas came face to face with a dark, spine-tingling eye that looked rimmed by flames—or, as they calmly ...
The man who was always drunk, but never drank alcohol: Scientists unwrap the mystery of ‘auto-brewery syndrome’
After years of inexplicably getting drunk without drinking alcohol, having mood swings and bouts of aggression, landing a DWI charge ...
Reversal of fortune for ‘failed’ Alzheimer’s drug? Biogen now seeking FDA approval, based on new test data
An experimental treatment for Alzheimer's disease is headed to the Food and Drug Administration for approval—despite the fact that it ...
Man with at least 17 children sues fertility clinic for being ‘incredibly irresponsible’ with his sperm
An Oregon doctor filed a $5.25 million lawsuit [October 2] against a fertility clinic at the Oregon Health & Science ...
Forget fecal transplants—vaginal fluid swaps could ‘revolutionize’ women’s health
In the afterglow of successful fecal transplants, researchers are now sniffing around vaginal fluids for the next possible bodily product ...
2 experimental Ebola treatments show promise in clinical trials, boosting survival rates
For the first time, preliminary clinical-trial results suggest that two experimental Ebola drugs can lower the death toll of the ...
Curaleaf’s unproven claims that CBD treats cancer, Alzheimer’s, chronic pain draws FDA warning
The company Curaleaf claims that it has developed products that can treat a slew of the most formidable conditions found ...
Viewpoint: Why the New York Times failed with its coverage of overhyped probiotics obesity treatment
Adding to the steaming pile of unsubstantiated hype over probiotics, the New York Times ran an uncritical article ... suggesting ...
Tiny electric signals in the brains of comatose patients may help predict who will wake up
Researchers may have found a way to detect inklings of consciousness in comatose and vegetative patients just days after they ...
Fecal transplant death sparks new FDA screening precautions, pause of clinical trials
One patient has died and another became seriously ill after fecal transplants inadvertently seeded their innards with a multi-drug resistant ...
‘Brazen’ biohacker under investigation by California health officials for ‘genetic self-experimentation’
Prominent genetic "biohacker" Josiah Zayner is under investigation by California state officials for practicing medicine without a license. Zayner has ...
Viewpoint: ‘Chickenpox parties’ aren’t just unnecessary—they’re incredibly dangerous
Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin made headlines [March 19] after revealing in a radio interview that he had purposefully exposed his ...
Some of us may have ‘divine healing’ poop for treatment of gut disorders
Scientists often seem to be on a quest for sacred chalices or sterling ammo. But a group of microbiologists has ...
‘Attack’ on masculinity? Psychology association defends new clinical guidelines for males
The American Psychological Association is on the defensive over its newly released clinical guidance for treating boys and men, which links ...
Rats and hepatitis E: How animal diseases jump to humans
The first known case of rat hepatitis jumping to a human patient has reopened a long-standing mystery of how the ...
Hospital ‘superbugs’ getting better at defeating alcohol-based hand sanitizers
Popular hand sanitizers may be heading the way of antibiotics, according to a study published this week in Science Translational Medicine ...
Boy almost back to normal 3 years after doctors remove large section of his brain
A boy who had large parts of the right side of his brain removed due to a slow-growing tumor made ...
Why it’s difficult to declare the end of an Ebola outbreak
The World Health Organization on [July 24] declared the official end of the latest outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic ...
Woman’s death blamed on bee-sting acupuncture promoted by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop
A 55-year-old Spanish woman has died following repeated exposures to an acupuncture method that uses live, stinging bees instead of ...
Ancient poison used for arrows could lead to male birth control pills
According to scientists, a poison arrow in the quiver may let loose a very sticky nether-region massacre. The poison in ...
Mystery of anesthetics: Despite lack of central nervous system, plants too ‘pass out’ from ‘knock out’ drugs
Just like humans, plants can succumb to the effects of general anesthetic drugs, researchers report in the Annals of Botany. The finding ...
Gut microbiome could influence response to cancer treatment
When [cancer] drugs work, the immune system tramples tumors into oblivion. But they don’t always work—in fact, cancer drugs can ...