Health & Medicine
Through the study and use of genetics, we can identify measures that could lead to the improvement of human health and wellness. These methods and procedures aim to prevent years of chronic disease and thousands of dollars in health care costs, and provide families and communities with knowledge of how to live healthier.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
New opioid promises ‘gold standard’ pain relief without the addiction
Opioid drugs like morphine and Oxycontin are still held as the gold standard when it comes to relieving pain. But ...
‘Voluntary euthanasia’: Are we ready to harvest organs while donors are still alive?
In the dystopian society of Nobel prizewinner Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, cloned people are raised to provide organs for ...
Can a blood test find your body’s internal clock
Your body has a clock—and thanks to the travails of modern life, that clock may not line up with the timing ...
Viewpoint: Coffee cancer warning illustrates failure of California’s Prop 65 law
On August 29, the FDA threw its hat into California’s eternal does-or-doesn’t-coffee-cause-cancer fight. “Requiring a cancer warning on coffee, based ...
Why probiotics may or may not help you—and could even harm you
From pickles and candy bars to pills and protein powders, probiotics are touted as a health boon in all flavors ...
Confusion over the origins of smallpox vaccine could leave us ‘vulnerable to a future outbreak’
Not only is there the potential for smallpox (or at the very least, something very similar) to resurge, but unbeknownst ...
Why the promise of personalized medicine could fall short for minorities
African-Americans are underrepresented in large-scale genetic and neuroscience studies ...
Poppy genome reveals ‘bizarre’ biological errors that gave us ‘intoxicating medicines’
A series of bizarre events and biological errors over evolutionary history were responsible for the intoxicating medicines found inside the ...
Why those sleepless nights could increase your Alzheimer’s risk
New research suggests bad sleep causes a build-up of plaque associated with Alzheimer’s ...
Golden eagle genome gives conservation effort a ‘blueprint for life’
British scientists have made a breakthrough that could help safeguard the future of one of the world's most admired birds ...
Roundup in breast milk? Disturbing new details in the plot to discredit nutritionist Shelley McGuire
In July 2015, Michelle (Shelley) McGuire, a nutrition professor and lactation expert then at Washington State University (WSU), was targeted ...
Can artificial intelligence give us a more efficient health care system?
To understand the benefits that artificial intelligence can bring to the world of human medicine, consider the case of Ayako ...
New studies questioning safety of GMO corn ‘contain serious flaws,’ experts say
Two -omics studies on genetically modified maize and Roundup-fed rats, recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, contain serious flaws ...
DNA test could help people with severe food allergies avoid peanuts
For people with severe peanut allergies, eating even minuscule amounts of the legume can trigger anaphylaxis -- a life-threatening condition ...
Could artificial intelligence protect the world from humanity’s ‘shortsightedness’?
There are fears that tend to come up when people talk about futuristic artificial intelligence — say, one that could ...
80 percent of Americans prefer organic produce, but are they healthier for it?
A whopping 82.3 percent of American households stock up on organic food .... But what if everything we know—or think we know—about ...
Large drug trials are expensive and results often misleading. A new genetic tool might cure those problems.
[C]orrelation is not causation. The fact that two phenomena or trends are correlated in time does not mean one causes ...
23andMe study probes links between cannabis use and schizophrenia
There’s evidence of a connection between cannabis use and schizophrenia, but it’s unclear whether the drug leads to the disorder, ...
Delving into our complicated relationship with carbohydrates
The idea of controlling carbohydrate consumption has been bouncing around the world of diets and medicine for nearly 100 years ...
Podcast: Why glyphosate-cancer news stories could push consumers away from healthy foods
On [this] episode, we explore one of the most important topics in nutrition: produce and pesticides. Health experts, the government ...
Put down the glass of wine: There’s ‘no such thing’ as safe alcohol consumption
You don’t have to go far to find people, including doctors and researchers, who will argue that a little bit of ...
Modern cancer myths and the science behind them
Here are some modern myths about cancer. There have been worries about mobile phones causing cancer since the days of ...
All-veggie ‘Impossible burger’ targeted by PETA’s cancer claims
Imagine sinking your teeth into a nice, juicy hamburger. Then, imagine being told that the hamburger isn't made from beef ...
Anti-GMO ‘Russian trolls’ also spread vaccine myths on social media, study finds
A new study showing that Russian-linked trolls and social media bots have been heavily promoting misinformation on vaccines shows just how far ...
Artificial intelligence could manage our health. But can we trust it?
In May, [startup Beta Bionics] received Food and Drug Administration approval to start clinical trials on what it calls a “bionic pancreas ...
Gene silencing through RNA interference scores first drug approval
The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first drug based on RNA interference (RNAi). Unlike media darlings gene therapy ...
Simulating near-death experiences with hallucinogenic drug DMT
Not everyone who is close to death—or thinks they are, at least—has a “near-death experience.” But those who do often ...
