You learn a lot about people by hanging out with robots. QT made it plain to me how much human interaction depends on tiny movements and subtle changes in timing. Even when armed with the latest artificial intelligence language models, QT can’t play the social game. Its face expresses emotion, it understands words and spits […]
Read MoreIn 2015, Canan Dağdeviren was working as a postdoc at MIT when she learned that her aunt, Fatma, had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Dağdeviren, whose work focused on building flexible devices that could capture biometric data, flew to the Netherlands to be with her relative in those last moments. At […]
Read MoreCari Siestra first learned about menstrual regulation when they were working on the Myanmar-Thailand border. At the time, abortion was broadly criminalized in both countries. But if a person’s period was late, it was relatively easy to get access to pills that would induce menstruation in just a few days. In Bangladesh, where abortion is […]
Read MoreThere’s no denying it: Farming had a rough year. Extreme weather spun up storms and floods, unseasonal freezes and baking heat waves, and prolonged parching droughts. In parts of the world in 2023, tomato plants didn’t flower, the peach crop never came in, and the price of olive oil soared. To be a farmer right […]
Read MoreSo far, only nine centers across the US are currently offering Casgevy, which may limit who gets access to it. Vertex says the number of participating sites will grow in the coming weeks and months. And despite the promise of a pain-free future, the grueling process of getting Casgevy may be a deterrent for some. […]
Read MoreYou booked this doctor’s appointment weeks in advance. You took off work, endured the trip here, filled out paperwork while a cooking show blared from a TV on the wall, and now you’re finally in the inner sanctum, awkwardly perched on an exam table and staring at a jar of tongue depressors. Your doctor comes […]
Read MoreWhenever he visited his local branch of Panera Bread in Fleming Island, Florida, it was Dennis Brown’s habit to order three drinks in a row. On September 28, and again on October 2, and the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 9th—the day Brown died—his drink of choice was Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonade. A 20-ounce serving of […]
Read MoreThe US Supreme Court has decided to hear a case challenging access to abortion pills in the United States, including in states where abortion is legal. Whatever the court decides, this will be the most consequential case for access to reproductive health care since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Pills are now […]
Read More“It was pretty amazing how well the experimental data and numerical simulation matched,” Eckert said. In fact, it matched so closely that Carenza’s first response was that it must be wrong. The team jokingly worried that a peer reviewer might think they’d cheated. “It really was that beautiful,” Carenza said. The observations answer a “long-standing […]
Read MoreIt’s been a monumental year for Crispr, the molecular tool scientists use to edit genetic material. This November, the United Kingdom authorized the first medical treatment using Crispr gene editing, giving people with sickle cell disease new opportunities to receive a one-time therapy to prevent episodes of terrible pain. This week, the US Food and […]
Read More“It is true that I am considered an expert on dog coat color,” Sheila Schmutz, an emeritus professor of animal and poultry science at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, told me. “At least in terms of genetics.” I sent Schmutz, who has published multiple papers about the coats of dogs and cattle, a selection […]
Read MoreAnother reason for the trial’s failure could be that exenatide is much less potent than its newer cousin semaglutide, better known as Ozempic. Now that Ozempic is everywhere, anecdotal evidence is mounting that these drugs reduce cravings not just for food, but for online shopping, smoking, nail-biting, and alcohol. Now, the first empirical evidence to […]
Read MoreDog owners are also exchanging advice on the best disinfection products for facilities and sharing what it’s like caring for dogs sick with this suspected syndrome, as well as first-hand accounts of what treatments have and haven’t worked. The idea is that owners of newly infected dogs can pass this information along to their veterinary […]
Read MoreSo how do Dr. Subbiah and her team stay ahead of cancer and work toward better outcomes in cancer care? The solution starts with the patients who participate in clinical trials. Dr. Subbiah recognized right away that there were entire populations of patients who were not represented in the trials used to test new cancer […]
Read MoreEase of administration: All four CGMs were easily affixed to the back of my arm using a plunger device held against the skin. (I must admit that I’m not sure I could have done this on my own, at least the first few times. I engaged the help of my mechanical-engineering husband, who found administration […]
Read MoreThe challenges Dr. Johnson faced as a woman in medicine who was fighting for women in medicine further illustrated the need for women on both sides of the science. While it’s important that medicine includes women as subjects when studying different diseases and treatments, it’s equally important that women be the ones doing the studying. […]
Read More“When we’re doomscrolling, we’re kind of looking for the resolution to the issue. Read some more posts. Read some more articles. If I get more information, then maybe I’ll understand the problem,” Price says, describing the doomscrolling cycle. This doesn’t just affect individuals. When a lot of people are experiencing the stress of the news […]
Read MoreThe original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. For a pathogen to make us sick, it must overcome a lot. First it has to enter the body, bypassing natural barriers such as skin, mucus, cilia, and stomach acid. Then it needs to reproduce; some bacteria and parasites can do this virtually anywhere in […]
Read MoreTo live in London in 2023 is to be perpetually engulfed in a cloud of cloyingly sweet vapor. The scent of Blue Razz Lemonade replaces traffic fumes; Banana Ice covers the rancid smell of rubbish. Disposable vapes are everywhere. Sleeker-looking than their bulkier, refillable counterparts, easier to get your hands on, and cheaper too, their […]
Read MoreThose trends have combined to affect “women from vulnerable communities … usually women who are Black or brown, with lower financial means, lack of access to transportation, [and] inability to take time off work,” says Natasha Bagdasarian, a physician and the chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, which had 38 congenital cases of […]
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