An outbreak of tuberculosis, or TB – a lung disease that is often accompanied by a hacking cough – began in January 2024 in Kansas City, Kansas, and two nearby counties and continues as of early March 2025. To date, 147 people have been reportedly diagnosed with TB in the outbreak, with 67 becoming ill....
Health
How the FDA Lets Chemicals Pour Into America’s Food Supply
Joseph Shea, who sells athletic wear in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, wonders and worries about the food he eats. The chemical ingredients with mystifying names. The references on product labels to unspecified natural or artificial flavors. The junk food that fits his budget but feels addictive and makes him feel unwell. Shea, one of 1,310...
The Quest to Extend Human Life Is Both Fascinating and Fraught with Moral Peril
“Who wants to live forever?” Freddie Mercury mournfully asks in Queen’s 1986 song of the same name. The answer: Quite a few people – so much so that life extension has long been a cottage industry. As a physician and scholar in the medical humanities, I’ve found the quest to expand the human lifespan both...
Suicide, the Music Industry, and a Call to Action
Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, country music singer Mindy McCready, Keith Flint of The Prodigy, Electronic Dance Music (EDM) DJ Avicii, K Pop stars Goo Hara, Sulli and Moonbin, and many more. This long and heartbreakingly incomplete list of musicians that have died by suicide represents not only tragedies, but cultural reminders...
Daily Cannabis Use Linked to Public Health Burden
New study suggests daily users who start in their teens at higher risk of a syndrome that causes vomiting, pain and repeated trips to the hospital A new study analyzes the disease burden and the risk factors for severity among people who suffer from a condition called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. Researchers at the George Washington...
Narcissists More Likely to Feel Ostracized
Narcissists feel ostracized more frequently than their less self-absorbed peers, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. This may stem not only from being shunned due to their personalities but from a tendency to misinterpret ambiguous social signals as exclusion. “Feeling ostracized is a subjective experience based on the perception of social cues...
Another Way Longer Paternity Leaves Help New Parents
Moms less likely to discourage dads’ role in child care, study finds A longer paternity leave after the birth of a child can improve the co-parenting relationship between moms and dads in a key way, a new study finds. Researchers found that mothers were less likely to discourage fathers’ involvement in parenting if the dads...
The Link Between Finances and Loneliness in Older Adults
Study reveals impact of emergency savings during COVID-19 Older adults who didn’t have enough savings to cover emergency expenses during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic faced another surprising problem: higher levels of loneliness. In a new study, researchers at The Ohio State University found that adults over the age of 65 faced increases...
New West Health-Gallup Survey Finds Incoming Trump Administration Faces High Public Skepticism Over Plans to Lower Healthcare Costs
Democrats, independents skeptical of Trump’s policies to reduce cost of care, while Republicans are optimistic Nearly half of Americans (46%) think the country is headed in the wrong direction when it comes to the incoming president’s policies to lower healthcare costs, while 31% say it’s on the right track, according to the latest West Health-Gallup...
Diving Deep into Dopamine
Positive feedback is helpful for learning, but usually, our greatest lessons actually come from failure— and a new project at the University of Pittsburgh aims to uncover the neural mechanisms behind this phenomenon. Helen Schwerdt, assistant professor of bioengineering at Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, received a five-year, $2.5 million R01 award from the National...