If you received a resumé and cover letter from an Anna O. Fraud, you might sense something fishy. If you got one from an Anna O. Szust, you’d probably be less concerned — even though oszust means “a fraud” in Polish. Either way, in a recent scientific sting operation reported in Nature, plenty of potential employers liked the fictitious Dr. Szust just fine —…
Read moreFacing pressure to curb diabetes-treatment costs, Eli Lilly & Co. announced on March 1 that it is slashing insulin prices and immediately capping the out-of-pocket cost of all of its insulins at $35 a month. President Joe Biden, who made insulin costs a focus of his State of the Union speech last month, praised the move by Lilly and called on other drugmakers to also lower insulin prices. Read more
Wearing sunscreen every day sounds like a no-brainer piece of health advice. Research suggests regular sunscreen use reduces the risk of potentially deadly skin cancers like melanoma, as well as visible signs of skin aging. The American Academy of Dermatology states its position in no uncertain terms: Everyone should wear sunscreen every day they’ll be outside.
But there’s bee…
Read moreOver two years since the first cases started appearing in Wuhan, China, there is much we don’t know about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. But a quick resolution to that question is possible: scientists could find bats in a cave somewhere in China or in southeast Asia and trace a chain leading from those bats to the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. Realistically, however,…
Read moreBy now, you’ve probably heard about “zombie fungi”, which are able to puppet the behaviour of their insect hosts with magnificent precision. One such fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, infects carpenter ants. Once infected by the fungus, ants are stripped of their instinctive fear of heights and climb up the nearest plant. In due course the fungus forces the ant to …
Read moreTeenage drug, alcohol and nicotine use declined dramatically from 2020 to 2021, according to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey. Overall, the drop-off in illicit drug use was the most significant NIDA has seen in a single year since it began MTF in 1975.
“It is really in all categories that we are seeing that, in terms …
Read moreTIME Studios is producing the Netflix documentary series Countdown: Inspiration 4 Mission to Space, starting Sept. 6.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which looks after children with cancer while also researching how to eliminate the pediatric form of the disease, raised $2 billion in donations in its last fiscal year. It’s a record for an independent cha…
Read moreHurricane Florence has downgraded to a tropical storm but is expected to regain hurricane status as its path hurls towards the U.S. East Coast in the next week.
Florence’s wind speed have decreased and as of Friday the tropical storm has had a maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, down from 140 mph, but is expected to strengthen in the next coming days.
Florence is currently 1,60…
Read moreOlivia Munn recently revealed in an Instagram post that a free, easy tool saved her life. Her ob-gyn used a questionnaire designed to calculate a person’s risk of breast cancer, which revealed Munn had an increased chance of developing the disease. That led to further tests and an early diagnosis of Luminal B cancer in both breasts and quick treatment.
The Breast Cancer Risk Assessment To…
Read moreForty years ago, as I was leaving my friend’s house to throw a baseball outside, his father stopped us for inspection.
“Where are you going?” Peter’s father asked. “When will you be back?” And most pointedly: “Have you done your homework?” Peter had, but I had not. “I’ll get around to it,” I said.
“Ah, well, her…
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