Laura Blue

Laura Blue is a senior contributing health writer for TIME.com. She first began writing for TIME's Canadian edition as an intern in 2004, and then spent four years as a staff reporter for the magazine's international editions, first in New York and later in London, before leaving to pursue a Ph.D. in demography at Princeton University. She is interested in evidence-based medicine, clinical trials and the effects of our day-to-day behaviors — think diet, exercise, smoking and stress — on health and longevity. She lives in Baltimore.

Articles from Contributor

Is there a maximum age to which humans can live?

It’s one of humanity’s longest-standing questions: How long can we live? Even the Bible weighs in. But people, on the whole, seem to be natural pessimists when it comes to the answer. Time after time, experts have estimated a maximum possible life expectancy that any human population could achieve. Time after time, we’ve exceeded it. …

The best strategy for fighting flu

When it comes to pandemic flu, the best strategy for the U.S. is not to vaccinate those at highest risk of illness, but rather to vaccinate those at highest risk of transmission. That’s the best way to protect the country’s most vulnerable people, according to a new study published today in the journal Science. The theory goes: If you …

Do fancy running shoes do more harm than good?

If you’re a runner, odds are pretty good that you’ve been injured at some point in the last year or two. Journalist Christopher McDougall has an interesting and no doubt controversial explanation. It’s your shoes, he says. There’s too much of them: too much cushioning, too much arch support, too much stabilization, too much …

The chemicals in candles

Burning everyday paraffin-wax candles can emit a storm of toxic chemicals, including toluene and benzene, according to a study presented today to the American Chemical Society. To be sure, it’s nowhere near as harmful to light an occasional candle as it would be, say, to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. But the researchers say that …

Phone calls help cancer patients feel better

When nurses reach out to their cancer patients by phone, those patients on average report higher quality of life and better mood, even if their symptoms are no better than other patients’. The finding comes from a new report published in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association. New Hampshire researchers tested a simple …

Whole grains appear chock full of heart-healthy antioxidants

Nutritionists say whole grains are good for you because they contain a lot of fiber. Now, new research shows they’re also packed full of polyphenol antioxidants — substances that help to rid your body of harmful free radicals, highly reactive molecules and ions that can damage your cells.

You’ve probably heard good things about …

New drugs could target cancer stem cells

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 …

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