Indigenous Knowledge Informs Mercury Research in Arctic
Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic are among the most exposed to foodborne mercury poisoning. Indigenous knowledge and leadership has been crucial since chemical monitoring began in region in the 1990s....
View ArticleAre Hawaii’s Beach Showers in Violation of the Clean Water Act?
In a recent study, scientists allege that the showers are “point sources,” defined by the Clean Water Act as “single identifiable sources of pollution from which pollutants are discharged.” If the...
View ArticleCulturally Adapting Therapy Can Help — But Needs Further Research
Recent research touched on a long-discussed topic in the field of mental health: How should practitioners adapt their therapies, along with screening and diagnostic tools, for people of different...
View ArticleBook Excerpt: Rituals and the Search for Order
Research suggests that we spontaneously engage in ritualized behaviors when we face stressful and uncertain situations, and we intuitively expect those ritualized actions to have an effect. But if this...
View ArticlePunishment, Puppies, and Science: Bringing Dog Training to Heel
Many researchers, trainers, and veterinary and training professional organizations are advocating for greater oversight for dog training, which is largely unregulated worldwide — though they sometimes...
View ArticleCrisis Counselors at 988 Call Centers Face Limited Resources
The national 988 suicide prevention hotline connects callers in crisis with trained personnel at more than 200 call centers in the U.S. A dispatcher’s main job is to listen. The next step is to make...
View ArticleWhy the Capital of India Is Flush with Mosquitoes
The city’s mosquito population has exploded, and frustrated residents have turned to DIY remedies such as burning incense, dung, and plastic. These efforts pose a threat to human health, experts say,...
View ArticleOpinion: Feminist Science Is Not an Oxymoron
Mainstream scientists have often believed feminist ideals are incompatible with true science — that the former is about ideology; the latter, objective authority. Yet feminists have generated a set of...
View ArticleBook Review: Exploring the Root of What Ails Us
In “The Myth of Normal,” physician Gabor Maté argues that we’ve created a world that’s fundamentally unhealthy for us. He suggests everything from trauma and depression to hypertension and even some...
View ArticleWhy is Corn Syrup in So Many American Infant Formulas?
A new study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, followed 15,000 infants and suggested a higher risk of obesity at age four for those who were fed corn syrup–based formula compared...
View ArticleIn Pakistan, 33 Million People Have Been Displaced in Floods
An erratic monsoon followed by flooding isn’t new in Pakistan, but the scale of devastation caused by the 2022 floods is unprecedented. Even though the rains have slowed, the floodwaters haven’t...
View ArticleTexas, Battling Teen Pregnancy, Recasts Sex Education Standards
The state’s minimum health standards now go beyond focusing on abstinence and include teaching middle schoolers about contraceptives and giving additional information about preventing sexually...
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Let’s Bring the Informed Consent Process Out of the Shadows
Tahlia Harrison has been bombarded with questions about psychedelics. A practicing therapist, Harrison recently graduated from the bioethics and science policy program at Duke University, where I...
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Book Review: How We Make Sense of Mental Illness
At 6 years old, Rachel Aviv entered the hospital because she refused to eat. Six weeks later, her doctors discharged her, and she went on to have a mostly normal childhood. But decades on, her sojourn...
View ArticleA Rare Disease That Underscores the Importance of Abortion Access
EDS patients are more likely to have complicated pregnancies, and a lack of abortion access can put people with the disorder at risk, medical experts and patients told Undark. Researchers are working...
View ArticleHemp Isn’t the Drought-Resistant Lifeline Texas Farmers Hoped For
During one of the driest years on record in Texas, many crops are failing because extreme heat hardens and dries out soil. Advocates pitched hemp as a drought-resistant lifeline, but without soil...
View ArticleBucking Convention to Track the Upside of Invasive Species
Biologists have long warned of the dire consequences of introducing alien organisms into new ecosystems. A new method for classifying positive effects of invasive species may mark a shift toward a more...
View ArticleThe Private Market Is No Place for Covid-19 Countermeasures
Given the long-standing disparities inherent in our nation’s commercialized health care system, why should anyone believe that Covid care will be any different? Can any public health crisis really be...
View ArticleBook Review: The Unraveling of California’s Power Grid
Journalist Katherine Blunt’s “California Burning” explores the long, checkered history of Pacific Gas and Electric, and the utility’s role in making the state vulnerable to climate-fueled wildfires...
View ArticleThe Covid-19 Booster Has a Public Relations Problem
With a new coronavirus booster rolling out, a leading expert on vaccines explains how public health leaders have struggled to set public expectations for the Covid-19 vaccine — and to convey clearly...
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