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An article late last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association should not just have come with a well-hidden edit showing the conflicts six months later. It should have come with a warning label stating that no real science was involved.

Mary Shelley popularized the work of Luigi Galvani, work that continues today. And while electricity does not reanimate the dead, bioelectricity – Galvani's legacy – may have a role in our embryologic development.

Anti-aging pills and creams get a lot of hype. But does anything actually extend lifespan? Scientists have known that "caloric restriction" extends lifespan in other animals for decades. But now they show that it may work in humans, too.

One of the biggest goals of autism research is to determine its cause. And one of the best ways to achieve that is to rule out the things that don't cause it. So let's acknowledge this month by doing just that.

We know that lack of sleep is a factor in auto accidents, and getting more of it is the answer. But what if someone exists in a perpetual sleepy state and doesn't realize it? What's the solution? Researchers from a Boston hospital looked to find out.

Damaged by the environment, tomb robbers and time, a severed mummified head from the early Middle Kingdom was finally identified. All thanks to science!

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that middle-aged adults, who went on to lose the majority of their total wealth during a two-year period, had a 50 percent greater chance of dying within the next 20 years than those whose wealth remained stable, or had increased.

It's no secret that carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), a nightmare infection, is spreading. There are now about 200 cases identified in the United States. But most people don't know how scientists determine whether a bug is resistant to a given antibiotic or not. It's really pretty simple, so here's a quick primer. 

High blood pressure is not a static event, it's dynamic, the result of multiple causes changing at different rates. Treating high blood pressure, or any disease, as a static process makes our models more inaccurate.

The FDA is advising consumers to discard products that are part of a mandatory recall. They include: Raw Form Organics Maeng Da Kratom Emerald Green; Raw Form Organics Maeng Da Kratom Ivory White; and Raw Form Organics Maeng Da Kratom Ruby Red. And there may be even more.

CRISPR-Cas9, unlike other methods, can create food products so close to the original that they are not considered genetically-modified organisms. That's because it's not how the process of change is of regulatory concern, but instead, it's the final result. Biosimilar is not genetically modified. 

The flu may be almost over, but another pesky season is just around the corner: allergy season. It affects up to 60 million people in the U.S. each year, and it's easy to mistake for the common cold. How can you tell them apart?

Stress incontinence is a significant health problem for women who have given birth. But we know little about its causes or how it develops over time. Here's a closer look at this concern.

The lure of page views and viral videos strikes again. A disturbing trend of snorting condoms finds good company with other misguided – and dangerous – fads. 

A coffee lawsuit has turned science upside-down by requiring coffee companies to prove that their product isn’t unsafe. That is absurd, not only because it violates 400 years of common sense about coffee, but because it is impossible to prove a negative. Science also cannot prove that ghosts aren’t real. Perhaps all California residences should carry a poltergeist warning, just in case.

Oftentimes eye drops do not end up where they are needed. Now, purchasers of eye expensive drops like those used to treat glaucoma – as well as the companies that make them – are now turning their collective gaze towards the U.S. Supreme Court, for a different kind of solution.

At-home genetic testing kits, like those sold by 23andMe, are increasing in both the number of people using them and the breadth of information that they provide. We have always questioned their utility. Now, new research raises questions about something even more dangerous about these kits – their accuracy.

K2, a dangerous synthetic cannabinoid product – also known as spice, synthetic marijuana, legal weed or fake weed – is wreaking havoc in Illinois and hospitalizing dozens.
 
In Illinois, synthetic cannabinoids have killed two and hospitalized fifty-six for extreme bleeding. This toll is expected to rise. Believing they are like "pot" or "marijuana" is the public's first mistake.

A video of a woman playing the flute while undergoing brain surgery for tremors is something to see. Watching someone being awake enough to perform a skilled task under such conditions is captivating, to say the least. 

Since snakes can't chew, in order to eat they swallow their food whole. This means finding prey small enough that they can stretch their open mouths around. But one evolved snake, to the surprise of a veteran biologist and reptile expert, rips its prey apart to consume it in bites. 

Another chemical scare group has a brilliant message: Don't eat at restaurants. The phthalates from plastic wrap and gloves will get you. If you eat at home they still will, just not as fast mega-stupid.

This season, it's estimated that upwards of 2,000 fans in Major League parks will be struck by an unavoidable, line drive foul ball, with many victims suffering life-long disabilities like brain damage or vision loss. But since 1913 the sport has enjoyed nearly blanket protection from legal liability. Until the "Baseball Rule" is abolished, teams will never have a true incentive to protect fans from these catastrophic injuries.

In 1995, an activist husband-and-wife team published Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras. Because scaring people is an excellent way to make money, it's time for a second edition this year. Also, they're recruiting women into a sham cohort study to "prove" their wacky belief that the latter causes the former.

Aside from suffocation and strangulation which are responsible for 25 percent of all sleep-related deaths, other causes of SIDS remain somewhat of a mystery to scientists and parents. But in recent years, much research has explored neurological variants, like serotonin levels in the brain, and a gene variant that could provide some insight.

It's been 50 years since Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich published his anti-population growth screed, The Population Bomb. Although he scared some folks and annoyed more, most of the deadly consequences he foresaw just didn't happen.