TimeMagazine 
While there has been controversy over when and how often women should be screened for breast cancer using mammograms, studies consistently show that screening can lead to earlier detection of the disease, when it’s more treatable. So improving how effectively mammograms can detect abnormal growths that could be cancerous is a priority in the field. … Read more
(BOSTON) — A medical student from China who U.S. authorities say tried to smuggle cancer research material taken from a Boston hospital out of the country has been held without bail by a judge who ruled he was a flight risk. Zaosong Zheng, 29, who last year earned a visa sponsored by Harvard University to … Read more
Today (Dec. 30), a team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco and the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., published the results of an investigation into whether or not pharmacy workers could provide accurate information on the disposal of two classes of drugs: opioids and antibiotics. The results are frightening: The researchers … Read more
(BEIJING) — Three researchers involved in the births of genetically edited babies have been sentenced for practicing medicine illegally, Chinese state media said Monday. The report by Xinhua news agency said lead researcher He Jiankui was sentenced to three years and fined 3 million yuan ($430,000). Two other people received lesser sentences and fines. Zhang … Read more
The last 12 months have felt chaotic, destabilizing, and on occasion apocalyptic. Toxic nationalist movements have risen across the globe; politics in democratic nations have increasingly polarized; wealth gaps continue to expand; and the specter of climate change lurking at a remove has become an actual monster inside the house. It’s difficult, in the context … Read more
There’s no question that autism can be traced to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. One genetic contributor in particular has in recent years intrigued scientists studying autism: DNA mutations originating in fathers’ sperm. Studies have linked autism risk to de novo mutations, or changes in DNA that arise spontaneously in sperm as the … Read more
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed a $1.4 trillion spending package that, on top of many things, raises the federal legal age for purchasing tobacco from 18 to 21. Beginning in the summer of 2020, it will be a violation of federal law to sell tobacco to anyone under the age of 21. Since the … Read more
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced Friday with new confidence that vitamin E acetate seems to be largely to blame for the vaping-related lung illness outbreak that swept the country—at the same time it announced the outbreak seems to be approaching its end. As of the CDC’s latest update, 2,506 people in the … Read more
Congress this week passed perhaps the most dramatic change to U.S. tobacco regulation in a decade, raising the federal legal age of purchase from 18 to 21. That provision, part of a spending bill that must still be signed into law by President Donald Trump, would apply not only to traditional tobacco products such as … Read more
Obesity continues to be a serious health problem in the U.S., contributing to heart disease, diabetes, joint disorders and even certain types of cancer. And according to the latest data, more Americans will be obese by 2030 than ever before. In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers led by Zachary … Read more