Scenario: A radiologist is looking at your brain scan and flags an abnormality in the basal ganglia. It’s an area of the brain that helps you with motor control, learning, and emotional processing. The name sounds a bit like another part of the brain, the basilar artery, which supplies blood to your brainstem – but […]
Few things scratch my brain like a good beef. Kendrick vs. Drake. Justin Baldoni vs. Blake Lively. On my beat, it’s usually two companies fighting over health tech patents. So-and-so copied a feature from so-and-so. The latest dispute on my radar is all about semantics. More specifically, the exact meaning of wellness. Let me catch […]
If I were to believe the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, I don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. Normally, smartwatches don’t make judgments about your nutritional intake. But this year, Samsung introduced a new experimental feature called Antioxidant Index. Using blue, yellow, and infrared LEDs, the watch’s sensor can pick up carotenoid levels in your skin. […]
In a 92-minute interview with Tucker Carlson on Monday, RFK Jr. drilled down on his vision for the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Artificial intelligence – arguably, a uselessly vague umbrella term – came up multiple times. (As did conspiracy theories and disinformation on vaccines and autism, the medical establishment, and covid-19 […]
Scorching hot days tend to hit certain neighborhoods harder than others, a problem that becomes more dangerous during record-breaking heat like swathes of the US experienced over the past week. A new online dashboard shows how Latino neighborhoods are disproportionately affected in California. Developed by University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), the tool helps fill […]
In the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, a health products company called Xlear began advertising its saline nasal spray to people desperately searching for ways to protect themselves from a new virus. In its marketing, Xlear pointed to studies that it said supported the idea that ingredients in the spray could block viruses from sticking […]
Last November, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that, as secretary of health and human services, he would not “take away anybody’s vaccines.” If you believed him, you were duped. The longtime anti-vaccine crusader remains intent on vilifying lifesaving immunizations and promoting the lie that the shots cause autism and all manner of other conditions. Maybe […]
Heatwaves, mold, and plastic pollution pose new risks to businesses and insurance companies, a new report by reinsurer Swiss Re warns. What do these things have in common? Fossil fuels make matters worse. They release the greenhouse gases warming our planet and are the primary ingredients for plastics, of course. Swiss Re’s annual report flags […]
Smart wearables company Ultrahuman has launched a new device that monitors changes in home environments that could impact your health. Ultrahuman says its $549 Home gadget tracks air quality, temperature, noise, light, and humidity, helping users optimize the climate within their homes to improve breathing and sleeping habits. The Ultrahuman Home resembles a Mac Mini […]
There are some questionable sources underpinning Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial “Make America Healthy Again” commission report. Signs point to AI tomfoolery, and the use of ChatGPT specifically, which calls into question the veracity of the White House report meant to address reasons for the decline in US life expectancy. An investigation by NOTUS found […]