16+ hour, 40+ min ago   (455+ words) How do you keep them down on the farm? In this case, “you” are newly minted physicians, and “the farm” stands in for working in rural areas. The question is posed and an answer attempted in a recent JAMA Network…...

3+ day, 9+ hour ago   (460+ words) In the summer of 1982, the McMullin family gathered for what should have been an ordinary celebration—swimming, games, food, laughter, and children racing around with siblings and cousins. Then everything changed. Twenty-two-month-old Nicholas was found at the bottom of the…...

3+ day, 16+ hour ago   (845+ words) What came after fire as humanity’s earliest chemical technology? Fermentation—an ancient bit of biotechnology that gave us beer, bread, yogurt, cheese, and countless other foods long before anyone knew microbes existed. Today, fermentation is enjoying a new health halo,…...

3+ day, 16+ hour ago   (759+ words) CBD and THC have been studied to death, but chemists are still finding new things to say about the surprisingly simple reaction that connects them. Well, you can, and that's where organic synthesis [3] – the art of converting one molecule into…...

4+ day, 16+ hour ago   (373+ words) Near Work: How the Eye Adapts With near work, despite the in-the-moment accommodation, some light rays fall behind the peripheral retina – we focus primarily using the center of the retina or fovea. Those errant rays hitting the periphery set off…...

5+ day, 10+ hour ago   (197+ words) Motion sickness has plagued travelers for centuries, yet the standard remedies remain largely unchanged—often leaving users drowsy, dry-mouthed and unfocused. A new drug in late-stage trials targets the root cause: a sensory mismatch between what the eyes see and…...

5+ day, 16+ hour ago   (709+ words) In elementary school, I was struck by a 1554 engraving showing residents of a European city emptying chamber pots onto the street. Gross, but also, to a kid, funny. The image oversimplifies pre-industrial sanitation. Cities relied on latrines, cesspits, and “night…...

5+ day, 16+ hour ago   (560+ words) A friend of mine has been a volunteer firefighter for 48 years. He doesn't scare easy. He estimates that he's helped put out 500 fires, running into burning buildings some of the time. That doesn't faze him either. But last week, after…...

6+ day, 16+ hour ago   (458+ words) I’ve been called a few choice names before, but “muckraker” was a new one. This was hurled at me after a talk I gave in which I had criticized RFK Jr.’s scientific acumen, and it was clear from the…...

6+ day, 16+ hour ago   (251+ words) Stripped of the rhetoric, the proposed regulation: “Requires manufacturers to notify the FDA when concluding that the use of a substance added to human or animal food is GRAS.” The Cup Half Full - Exposing the Loophole The regulation is designed…...