Refugee camps, not surprisingly, are rather unhealthy places to be. For one thing, there are the effects of the natural disaster that usually drive refugees to a temporary settlement. There’s also the threat of hunger and thirst
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They may smell sweet, but popular air fresheners can cause serious lung problems.
Proving a negative in science is really, really hard — and that may well be the task that researchers trying to evaluate the potentially carcinogenic effects of cell phone use may have before them.
Most of us use Twitter to a) self-promote, b) find out what Kim Kardashian is up to, or c) freak out over the news. But for social scientists, a 24/7 global stream of constantly updated status messages is a rich vein for research …
Contagion was high on the box office list again last weekend, proof that millions of Americans are entertained by scenes of infection, suffering, sniffles and autopsies of Gwyneth Paltrow’s brain. The movie can sometimes veer a …
As we look back over the decade since 9/11, perhaps the most pressing question is this: are we ready for another one?
Information is the currency of modern medicine. Better diagnostic tools — think everything from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines to rapid genetic sequencing for new pathogens — enable better medical care.
Unintended consequences are a pain. California has long had some of the strictest flammability regulations in the country for furniture and other household items. As a result, in the 1970s flame retardant chemicals called …
Even as U.S. officials are tracing the source of a multistate outbreak of salmonella poisoning that has sickened more than 70 people and killed at least one person, there’s more bad news on the food-borne illness front.
Back in May, a group of experts from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) made waves when they warned that mobile phones may indeed raise the risk for some brain tumors.
The German E. coli outbreak has slipped from the news recently, as the rate of new cases and deaths has slowed. But it’s not over yet. On Thursday federal health officials announced that the death of a man in Arizona from a …
As if the generally horrific experience of flying wasn’t bad enough (maybe I’m just a little sour about the 90 minutes I spent on the tarmac at Newark last night), a new study [PDF] in Emerging Infectious Diseases shows that …
When the media writes about vaccines in the U.S. and Europe, usually we’re reporting on the endless controversy over whether some vaccines cause autism. (Short answer: they don’t.) That’s the luxury of wealth and health — …