TimeMagazine

Grief can exact a heavy toll on a person’s health. People are more likely to die when they’re in mourning than in ordinary times, a phenomenon that’s so well known it has its own name in scientific literature: the “widowhood effect.” That’s partly due to the negative changes that can affect the heart during mourning. … Read more

PCR and rapid tests aren’t the only places where evidence of SARS-CoV-2 shows up. The virus that causes COVID-19 also turns up in a city’s wastewater, which has become a powerful tool during the pandemic to give scientists early glimpses into where infections are peaking. Wastewater analysis often alerts health officials of upticks in infection … Read more

Since COVID-19 first began spreading in the U.S., Americans have disagreed about the national pandemic response, arguing over everything from vaccines to masks, home schooling to quarantining. Now, a new survey by the Pew Research Center suggests that little has changed. The survey of more than 10,000 adults was conducted from May 2-8, 2022, and … Read more

I was always ready to say yes to the COVID-19 vaccine. I’d been following its development from the very beginning of the pandemic and said, again and again, that I’d happily get vaccinated. Working in critical care during the first deadly wave of the virus, my team and I had yearned for any relief from … Read more

One of the first patients emergency medicine physician Dr. Taylor Nichols ever treated on his own was a woman who had an ectopic pregnancy—a dangerous condition in which a fertilized egg grows outside the uterus, potentially causing life-threatening bleeding if it ruptures the organ in which it’s growing. She came into the hospital stable. By … Read more

(Washington D.C.) — Pharmacists can prescribe the leading COVID-19 pill directly to patients under a new U.S. policy announced Wednesday that’s intended to expand use of Pfizer’s drug Paxlovid. The Food and Drug Administration said pharmacists can begin screening patients to see if they are eligible for Paxlovid and then prescribe the medication, which has … Read more

Sunscreen is a summertime must. It protects against ultraviolet light exposure that has been linked to skin cancers, as well as changes commonly associated with aging. Because of these proven benefits, sunscreen has remained largely uncontroversial for much of its nearly century-long history. In recent years, however, chemicals found in the vast majority of sunscreen … Read more

Soon after she started taking the drug methotrexate in February, Jennifer Crow noticed a significant improvement in her inflammatory arthritis pain. Since then, she’s taken the drug weekly. So her stomach dropped on July 1, when she got an automated call from her pharmacy saying her methotrexate refill for the month hadn’t been approved. Crow, … Read more

(Washington) — The Food and Drug Administration issued an administrative stay Tuesday on the order it issued last month for vaping company Juul to pull its electronic cigarettes from the market. The agency said on Twitter that the stay temporarily suspends the marketing denial order while it conducts further review, but does not rescind it. … Read more

(Miami) — The estate of an Illinois woman who died earlier this year from a listeria infection filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against a Florida ice cream company that health officials have connected to a multistate outbreak. The lawsuit filed in the Middle District of Florida claims that Mary Billman died after eating contaminated ice … Read more