TimeMagazine The majority of people worldwide think vaccines are safe, according to a new global survey—but the share of doubters is still high enough to threaten immunity. The survey, conducted by polling group Gallup and health research charity Wellcome, asked more than 140,000 people in 140 countries about their attitudes on a variety of health and … Read more
A Midwestern grocery chain, Hy-Vee, is taking an unusual—and highly controversial—approach to reducing health care costs. Before employees in certain cities can undergo knee replacement, they first must visit a stem cell provider. Hy-Vee has contracted with one of the U.S.’ leading stem cell companies—Regenexx, based in Des Moines, Iowa—that claims injections of concentrated bone … Read more
The following is adapted from an excerpt from social and medical historian Katherine Foxhall’s new book, Migraine: A History, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and out June 18, 2019. In 1936, Alfred Goltman, a physician from Tennessee, reported on one of his cases in the prominent medical journal Allergy. The patient was a 26-year-old … Read more
Climate change is warming ocean waters around the globe, which affects what can thrive in various parts of the seas. Now, bacteria that can cause a flesh-eating infection are showing up in waters once too cold to harbor them. A new report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine links five recent cases of Vibrio … Read more
(NEW YORK) — What’s behind those hard-to-resist puppy dog eyes? New research suggests that over thousands of years of dog domestication, people preferred pups that could pull off that appealing, sad look. And that encouraged the development of the facial muscle that creates it. Today, pooches use the muscle to raise their eyebrows and make … Read more
Take off that hat. It will make you bald. It’s the sort of thing an opinionated grandparent might tell a grandchild wearing a hat indoors, but there are some who believe there’s wisdom in the admonishment. “I’ve had people ask me about this, and I can understand why they think it’s true,” says Dr. Hayley … Read more
Predicting lifespan isn’t an exact science. U.S. life expectancy is currently estimated at 78.6 years, but that one number doesn’t tell the whole story. Genes, gender, lifestyle and luck all play an important part, but it’s impossible to know exactly how much and in what proportion each ingredient influences a person’s longevity. The single best … Read more
There’s been a marked uptick in so-called deaths of despair—those involving drugs, alcohol or suicide—among millennials over the last decade, according to a new report released by public-health groups Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust. Drug, alcohol and suicide deaths have risen in nearly every age group over the last decade, but the … Read more
Slightly more Americans are meeting the federal physical activity guidelines than in years past, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. But overall rates are still low, with disparities across geographic areas—underscoring the important role communities play in their residents’ physical health. As of 2017, about 24% of Americans … Read more
Dogs are so connected to their owners that they share similar stress levels, according to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports. When people are stressed out, researchers found, their dogs tend to be, too. Certain aspects of your personality—how neurotic you are, mainly—may also affect how stressed your dog is. Researchers in … Read more