If one can get past its superficial reputation, there's value in understanding why photographing oneself has become a global phenomenon, and what in human nature drives billions of people to do it. In fact, researchers have identified three behavioral types of selfie shooters. We know you do it, too, so which one are you?
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The role of infectious pathogens causing secondary diseases is well established. But although suspected, the correlation of childhood infections and type 1 diabetes has not be proven. A recent Finnish study shows a strong correlation between enterovirus infection in children and the development of diabetes. Is this one more piece of the puzzle?
Listen up, slackers: You can no longer use "work" as an excuse to avoid burning calories during the week. Turns out, you could get your best workout in over the weekend, without lifting a finger Monday through Friday.
A rare genetic disorder that transforms a person's hands and feet, in particular, into tree-bark-like warts and cutaneous horns made news recently. It's truly out of the ordinary. So what's this all about?
After being bitten by a mosquito, who among us hasn’t been tormented by the resulting itch? Now, imagine that intensity and urge to scratch spread over your entire body, in a constant and unrelenting fashion – night and day. This condition has a name: chronic generalized pruritus.
The Cleveland Clinic employs a crackpot – and physician – named Daniel Neides. He has been given a forum to share his supernaturally inaccurate thoughts with the public. He did just this in a recent opinion piece titled, "Make 2017 the year to avoid toxins (good luck) and master your domain: Words on Wellness."
In assessing the health of humans, plants or animals, when advanced age or decay occurs we can observe the physical changes as they happen. This, however, cannot be said when studying trees, because they rot from the inside out. But a new study employing sound waves is adding to our knowledge of how to evaluate tree health.
RNA-based treatments for select genetic diseases have made major headlines in the last few months by receiving FDA approval and giving hope to families of suffering children.
In a new study of elderly Chinese, researchers sought to learn if mid-day napping was beneficial – and if so – when it was best to do, and for how long to achieve optimal results. They concluded that for adults 65 and older, post-lunch, one-hour naps improved mental performance as compared to those who napped longer, shorter or not at all.
Four children died in a a tragic accident in Texas, when a father was simply trying to wash away some pesticide from under his home. But the culprit was the water, and the chemistry is simple.
One method widely used to control malaria is providing families with insecticide-treated bed nets. Overall, this strategy is very successful, having halting hundreds of millions of cases over the past 15 years. In some parts of the world, however, mosquitoes "learn" to avoid bed nets by biting people earlier in the day.
I can burn how many calories while shoveling? You don't have to resolve to hit the gym this month, especially if you can easily burn 200-400 calories while doing winter outdoor activities: skiing, snowshoeing, and even shoveling.
A growing number of parents choose to opt out of giving children their daily dose of milk, and switching to alternatives like almond milk or cashew milk. Perhaps they may think the alternatives offer a bit more calcium than real milk — but this is misleading: Real milk contains both calcium and vitamin D (added in the 1930s due to Rickets — a vitamin D deficiency among children), and the presence of vitamin D helps absorb the calcium.
Who knew that the sharks on TV's Shark Tank were scientifically critical thinkers? On a recent episode, a woman from the company ENERGYbits gets ripped to shreds after the faux-science behind her algae supplements is exposed.
Imagine if your sex was determined not at birth, but by the amount of food available in the early stages of your life. And that if you consumed more you'd increase the chance of becoming female. While that's not possible for humans, this is the surprise finding about the early growth of a particular species of invasive fish.
A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that women seeking to have a baby using in vitro fertilization "are more likely to give birth if they have health insurance that covers the procedure," as compared to women who don't have such coverage.
Ischemic strokes (those resulting from a block in an artery feeding the brain) are responsible for much morbidity and misery. Difficulty in speaking or walking are but two of the possible results in those who survive the occurrence. New research from Australia presents a possible means of reducing such effects based on peptides found in the venom of a deadly spider.
Pain patients are experiencing a world of trouble. If their pain itself wasn’t enough, the CDC added to their agony by issuing a restriction on primary care physicians. As guest writer Richard Lawsen explains, the "guideline" focuses on prescription of opioid medications to adults with long-lasting non-cancer pain – using methodology that's deeply flawed.
It was another week of us doing what we do best: separating health scares from health threats. So when we get pushback from those in the health-scare business – a shifty faction that includes academic journalism professors and a former bureaucrat who insists checking your email will give you brain cancer – it's time for us to get busy.
Of all the nasty things floating around out there just waiting around to kill us, viruses are the nastiest. You've all heard of smallpox, rabies, Spanish flu, polio, AIDS and Ebola. But emerging viral infections are seriously scary.
Since they are easily overlooked, it makes sense to check in with your kidneys to see how they're doing – and more importantly, to learn whether you're caring for them properly. Millions of Americans are not, and they're unaware of the damage they're doing because it can be symptomless.
Apparently, you can make any claim with an Asterisk (*), so long as the asterisk clarifies that your claim isn't true. In one of Dr. Oz's latest press releases, the TV 'doc' touts apple cider vinegar (or any vinegar) as a miracle health benefit: it improves blood flow, prevents diabetes, encourages weight loss, and prevents cancer. But not too long ago on the Dr. Oz show, he caveats his claims by saying this: "
New titles like “clinician,” “advanced practitioner” or “provider” are masking a stark reality. People will be able to practice medicine without ever attending medical school, performing rigorous residencies or be comprehensively and extensively trained as physicians. It's a frightening – and very real – trend.
When it comes to cooking, olive oil takes the cake for nutrition, flavor, and healthy fats. So it makes sense that someone would find a reason to hate it; it's the anti-science way, after all! Internet rumors swirl about the low smoke point of olive oil and claims that reaching it is potentially toxic to your health. It isn't true, and here's why.
Kratom is an untested mixture of drugs that come from the Mitragyna tree in Southeast Asia. Dr. Josh Bloom has written some uncomplimentary things about it – but things have changed, which in a sense makes him wrong. But not for the reason you'd think, as he will explain here.
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