Atlantic
How consumer genetic testing is ending paternal secrecy—for better or worse
When Nara Milanich wrote Paternity: The Elusive Quest for the Father—a history of the scientific, legal, and social conceptions of ...
Women are more likely to get autoimmune diseases. Is the placenta to blame?
In the United States alone, women represent 80 percent of all cases of autoimmune disease. ... Some scientists now think ...
Legalizing pot won’t slow the opioid epidemic, study suggests
Nearly five years ago, a team of researchers performing a study on medical cannabis came to a startling conclusion: The ...
Harnessing biological clocks to boost fight against disease, parasites
[Evolutionary parasitologist Sarah] Reece and other scientists are exploring an idea that is making waves in biology: If the body ...
‘Illogical and inappropriate’: How anti-vaxxers use 23andMe genetic tests to avoid vaccines
San Francisco’s city attorney subpoenaed a doctor accused of giving illegal medical exemptions from vaccination, based on “two 30-minute visits ...
How the right diet could slow cancer growth through ‘metabolic therapy’
Doctors are starting to think more about specific nutrients that feed tumor cells. That is, how what we eat affects ...
This funny-looking helmet could treat depression by ‘rewiring’ the brain
[Recent] weeks have been frenetic for Bre Hushaw, who is now known to millions of people as the girl in ...
‘Stranger than doctors could have imagined’: Boy born without one type of brain cells
Even before he was born, it was clear that the boy’s brain was unusual—so much so that his expecting parents ...
‘Evolution in action’: How did this common gut bacteria turn lethal?
For three decades, the deadly bacteria sat in cold storage. Normally, Enterococcus faecalis lives harmlessly in the human gut. One particular strain, ...
High production costs, regulation: Obstacles keeping lab-grown meat off our plates
The thought I had when the $100 chicken nugget hit my expectant tongue was the one cartoon villains have when ...
DNA testing uncovers fertility doctor’s decades-old dark secret
The first Facebook message arrived when Heather Woock was packing for vacation, in August 2017. It was from a stranger claiming to ...
Viewpoint: Autism research is leaving girls behind
Evidence that clinicians are missing girls with autism has been building for years. Because autistic girls tend to exhibit different traits than ...
Huntington’s risk spawns niche IVF market for people who don’t want a diagnosis
When Jennifer Leyton was going through IVF, her doctors would tell her very little. They turned off the ultrasound screen ...
Is there such a thing as an anti-Alzheimer’s diet?
By 2050, an estimated 15 million people in America will have Alzheimer’s—the equivalent of the combined populations of New York ...
DNA of the dead: Genetic testing companies offering to use envelopes licked by the deceased
In the past year, genealogists have been abuzz about the possibility of getting DNA out of old stamps and envelopes ...
Why your dog really can tell if you are sick
I was sick last week, and as [my Chihuahua] Midge was glued to my side, friends told me about their ...
Why bleak, frightening dreams may make us better people
What are dreams for? A handful of theories predominate. Sigmund Freud famously contended that they reveal hidden truths and wishes. More recent ...
What explains twins that are ‘somewhere in between’ fraternal and identical?
A few years ago, Michael Gabbett got a call from a very confused ob-gyn. A woman had come in pregnant ...
Making the case for potential benefits of microdosing LSD and ‘magic’ mushrooms
[A]necdotal endorsements of [psychedelic] microdosing claim that the routine can lead to a whole variety of benefits, including heightened emotional ...
Are houseplants indoor air filters? Science busts a popular home gardening myth
Houseplants have much to recommend them. They’re fun to care for, they look good on Instagram, and they express environmental ...
Viewpoint: Why the crusade against ‘toxic masculinity’ ignores ‘real-life conditions’
Over the past several years, toxic masculinity has become a catchall explanation for male violence and sexism. The appeal of ...
Why growing up poor could hurt your brain in old age
In 2004, a study titled “The Long Arm of Childhood” found that whether children were rich or poor could influence their health ...
70% of teens see mental health, depression as a ‘major struggle’ for their generation in Pew survey
In the past decade, young people in the United States have borne the brunt of some of the most highly ...
Claims of ‘insect armageddon’ based on ‘patchy, unrepresentative and piecemeal’ data, entomologists say
In 1828, a teenager named Charles Darwin opened a letter to his cousin with “I am dying by inches, from not having ...
‘Google of sorts’: DNA database harnesses power of genome sequences
In 2015, scientists discovered a pig in China that would set off a frantic, worldwide search. The pig carried bacteria ...
Why Silicon Valley’s food-depriving ‘productivity hacks’ could be dangerous
Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, doesn’t eat for 22 hours of the day, and sometimes not at all. Over the weekend ...
How long can bacteria live? 500-year experiment could provide answers
In the year 2514, some future scientist will arrive at the University of Edinburgh (assuming the university still exists), open ...
From salt to hand sanitizer, corn is in everything. What would life without it look like?
When Christine Robinson was first diagnosed with a corn allergy 17 years ago, she remembers thinking, “No more popcorn, no ...