In the heated exchanges flying back and forth about President Obama’s proposed health care reform, some barbs have been landing a bit far afield, namely, on the other side of the Atlantic. And while moaning about the National Health Service (NHS)—the United Kingdom’s universal health care provider—may be a favorite pastime for Brits, enduring heaps [...]
Rosemary and thyme usually make people think of roast chicken or lamb chops—or possibly the Simon and Garfunkel song Scarborough Fair—but innovative research from scientists at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems could give new meaning to these common herbs. In a study presented this past weekend at a meeting [...]
A study analyzing the chemical composition of smokeless tobacco—snuff and chewing tobacco—finds that, in excess of the risks posed by tobacco and nicotine exposure, users are subjecting their bodies to an array of harmful chemicals. Confirming and expanding on previous research into smokeless tobacco products, the researchers found that snuff and “dip” contain nearly 30 [...]
In an analysis of 28 wide circulation women’s magazines, researchers found that more than one third of the images of sleeping babies show them lying down in a position that could increase their risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The alarming number of photos reinforcing unsafe sleeping positions may be giving young mothers the [...]
A study that tested paper money from 30 big cities in five countries—including the U.S., Brazil, Canada, China and Japan—found that big metropolitan areas in both Canada and the U.S. have an alarmingly high presence of cocaine on their currency, with traces of the narcotic on 85-90% of bills. Brazil, coming in just behind the [...]
In a Wall Street Journal editorial titled, “The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare,” John Mackey, the founder and C.E.O. of Whole Foods—one of the world’s biggest retailers of “natural” and organic foods—stirred up furor among his left-leaning customer base by denouncing Obama’s health care plan as likely to “move us much closer to a government [...]
A study published this week in Science suggests that the active ingredient in marijuana, cannabinoids—which include THC and other chemicals—may limit the body’s ability to tamp down pain responses, and, as a result, turn short term acute pain into more long term discomfort. While there has been a growing amount of research analyzing the pain [...]
Some 100,000 kids end up in U.S. emergency rooms each year because they’ve accidentally been poisoned. No, they’re not all raiding the cupboard full of cleaning supplies. Close to 70% of those visits are from are overdoses of everyday over-the-counter drugs or prescription medications, according to a recent study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The leading culprit, [...]
Boston-area researchers have developed a new technique to identify chemicals that kill cancer stem cells — the part of a cancer that drives tumor growth. A common problem with current chemotherapy treatments is that they knock back a cancer successfully, only for the tumor to re-grow later because, it seems, the all-important stem cells have [...]
