This Fourth of July, Aim to Be Free of Food Waste

July 1, 2022 – As one of America’s favorite holidays lurks around the corner, red, white, and blue won’t be the only consistent theme this year. In the U.S., the aftermath of celebratory gatherings is almost always the same: loads of leftover food that is mostly packed or thrown away. “Americans waste a lot of…

SCOTUS Opinion Leak Caused Spike in Search for Abortion Drugs

July 1, 2022 – Word that the U.S. Supreme Court was on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade led to a dramatic spike in web searches for abortion medications, a new study shows. On May 2, 2022, Politico leaked a draft majority opinion that revealed the court intended to reverse the guaranteed right to…

Scientists Find Brain Mechanism Behind Age-Related Memory Loss

July 1, 2022 – Scientists at Johns Hopkins University have identified a mechanism in the brain behind age-related memory loss, expanding our knowledge of the inner workings of the aging brain and possibly opening the door to new Alzheimer’s treatments. The researchers looked at the hippocampus, a part of the brain thought to store long-term…

Weight Gain and Antidepressants (Including SSRIs)

More than 1 in 10 Americans take antidepressants to treat depression. For the most part, these medications get the job done. Your health care provider may need to tweak your dosage or switch you to a different kind to find the best fit, but most people notice an improvement in 6 weeks or so. Like…

Blink-182 Drummer Travis Barker Hospitalized With Pancreatitis

July 1, 2022 – Travis Barker, drummer for rock band blink-182, was hospitalized this week in Los Angeles with pancreatitis. Barker, 46, husband of celebrity influencer Kourtney Kardashian, recently had a colonoscopy to check for colon cancer. Experts have weighed in on how likely the link is between his colonoscopy and pancreatitis. “It’s possible, but…

How Do Men and Women Compare?

You’ve probably heard things like this: Men get turned on at the slightest provocation and are ready to have sex anytime, anywhere, while women tend to want sex less often and have to be “in the mood.” For years, that’s been the widespread belief: Men just have higher sex drives than women. Research has often…

Can You Get COVID From Your Cat?

June 30, 2022 – As if cats weren’t already mysterious enough, questions have now resurfaced about animal-to-human transmission of the coronavirus after a report that a veterinary surgeon in Thailand likely got COVID-19 from a cat she was swabbing. Nature reports the case is the first evidence of cat-to-human COVID-19 transmission, though early in the…

Pfizer Plans a Vaccine to Target All Coronaviruses

June 30, 2022 – Ask the sibling of any celebrity and they’ll tell you they don’t get anywhere near the same attention. The same is true for coronaviruses – the one that causes COVID-19 has been in the spotlight for more than 2 years now, while the others at the moment circulate in relative obscurity….

Can the Flu Vaccine Help Keep Older Minds Sharp?

June 30, 2022 – For older adults, getting the annual flu shot may do more than protect against the flu. It may also reduce the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease. In a large study of vaccinated and unvaccinated adults ages 65 and older, those who received at least one influenza vaccine were less likely than…

Protect Your Hearing from Fireworks This Fourth of July

June 29, 2022 – Kendall Johnson, of Sioux Falls, SD, was a teenager when he had surgery to try to restore his hearing. While he and his friends lighted up fireworks on the Fourth of July one summer, one exploded right in front of his face. Johnson says he lost nearly all his hearing that…