March 19, 2025
(BBC) – Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are back on Earth after their eight-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) unexpectedly became a nine-month enforced stay. Now, their recovery begins. “Space is by far the most extreme environment … Read More
March 19, 2025
Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics (vol. 46, no. 1, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
March 18, 2025
(KFF Health News) – Kratom, which originates from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia, is also touted for helping relieve pain and opioid withdrawal symptoms. But it can have wide-ranging mental and bodily effects, according to the … Read More
March 18, 2025
(Washington Post via MSN) – By 2050, there will be an estimated 25.2 million people living with Parkinson’s disease worldwide, a 112 percent increase from 2021, according to a new study published in the journal BMJ. The World Health Organization … Read More
March 17, 2025
(Washington Post via MSN) – Are AI chatbots revolutionary technologies that herald the dawn of a new era of thinking machines? Or are they just “stochastic parrots,” as the linguist Emily M. Bender memorably put it — digital mimics programmed … Read More
March 17, 2025
(The Guardian) – In a matter of minutes, I was moving in and out of programs with ease; using my eyes and hands, my arm relaxed with no nerve pain firing. I view software that shows breakthroughs in medical training, … Read More
March 17, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – The swift rise in diagnoses for everything from autism to ADHD may be doing more harm than good. What all of these diagnoses have in common is that they all have a severe form with a … Read More
March 14, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Psychiatrists and primary-care doctors regularly prescribe the drugs for everything from mild anxiety to insomnia, making benzodiazepines some of the most commonly prescribed psychiatric medications in America. The pills’ omnipresence has left a mark on pop … Read More
March 12, 2025
(Nature) – Researchers have identified 64 genes that help to shape how quickly a person’s brain ages, in one of the largest attempts to pinpoint genetic factors that influence the organ’s decline. The study, published in Science Advances on 12 … Read More
March 12, 2025
(New York Times) – Prescription drugs like lorazepam — used to treat anxiety, panic attacks and sleep disorders — play a role in popular TV shows like “The White Lotus” and “The Pitt.” This isn’t a case of Hollywood taking … Read More
March 12, 2025
(ProPublica) – When an at-risk sleep apnea patient needed his breathing machine replaced, Lincare, a $2.4 billion behemoth with a decadeslong history of regulatory and legal problems, acted slowly. The result was disastrous. Lincare, a giant respiratory-device supplier with a … Read More
March 12, 2025
(Medical Xpress) – The American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the American Epilepsy Society (AES) and the Epilepsy Foundation of America (EFA) have issued a consensus position statement on seizures, driver licensure and medical reporting. The position statement is published online … Read More
March 11, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – The term is everywhere this week, but its meaning is as vague as ever. Working on a definition matters. The concept of artificial general intelligence—an ultra-powerful AI system we don’t have yet—can be thought of as … Read More
March 11, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Pueblo, Colo., had high hopes for a legal-marijuana boom; financial troubles now plague the industry In Pueblo and elsewhere, though, market dynamics have crippled the legal-cannabis industry. Even after legalization, illicit growers and sellers thrived in … Read More
March 11, 2025
(The Hill) – The Supreme Court granted a Colorado therapist’s request to review her challenge to a state law banning mental health care providers from engaging minors in conversion therapy, a discredited practice that attempts to change a person’s sexual … Read More
March 11, 2025
(NPR) – The deadliest phase of the street fentanyl crisis appears to have ended, as drug deaths continue to drop at an unprecedented pace. For the first time, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have now seen at … Read More
March 11, 2025
(New York Times) – The question has generated controversy among scientists. Here’s what we know. Over the last decade or so, research has revealed a clear pattern: People tend to overeat ultraprocessed foods. This could be one reason they’re linked … Read More
March 10, 2025
(Washington Post via MSN) – The “placebo effect” is a phenomenon that occurs when a person’s physical or mental health improves after taking what is essentially a sham treatment with no clear therapeutic benefits. “The placebo effect is not magic, … Read More
March 10, 2025
(Slate) – While there is nothing new about autism playing a role in death cases, Kohberger’s motion ups the ante. Rather than waiting until a death sentence has been imposed, they are arguing it would be unconstitutional to allow a … Read More
March 10, 2025
(Wired) – Elon Musk’s brain implant company, Neuralink, has filed applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to exclusively own the names Telepathy, Telekinesis, and others for future products. Neuralink, which Musk cofounded in 2016, is developing … Read More
March 7, 2025
(Associated Press) – Most of America “springs forward” Sunday for daylight saving time and losing that hour of sleep can do more than leave you tired and cranky the next day. It also could harm your health. Darker mornings and … Read More
March 7, 2025
(Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a large study into potential connections between vaccines and autism, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, despite extensive scientific research that has disproven or failed to … Read More
March 6, 2025
(Australian Broadcasting Co via MSN) – On a warm Melbourne day late last year, hundreds of thousands of live human brain cells sat inside a box on a table in Brunswick. While the neurons were too small to see with … Read More
March 5, 2025
(New York Times) – Researchers identified a gene that seems to help slow brain aging in women, and studied links between hormone therapy, menopause and Alzheimer’s. Women’s brains are superior to men’s in at least in one respect — they … Read More
March 5, 2025
(New York Times) – The research constitutes some of the first evidence that the condition is associated with modifications in the brain before childbirth. Researchers scanned the brains of dozens of women in the weeks before and after childbirth and … Read More
