health
Coffee Cures Women, Bad Comedians of Depression
Hamilton Nolan · 09/27/11 03:20PMSorry Drunks, Red Wine Doesn't Really Lower Your Blood Pressure
Brian Moylan · 09/27/11 02:31PMBiking to Work Is Ruining Your Lungs
Brian Moylan · 09/26/11 03:54PMAntimagnets, How Do They Work?
Hamilton Nolan · 09/23/11 04:05PMReverse magnets! Dog robot! Cramped fish! Hair story! Cell swallowing! Cool science! Space storm! Fake planets! And studying abuse reveals that everything she said was true! It's your Friday Science Watch, where we watch science—with soul!
Sexualizing Kids Sure Is Expensive
Hamilton Nolan · 09/22/11 03:12PMDinosaurs Don't Have That Asteroid to Kick Around Any More
Hamilton Nolan · 09/20/11 04:35PM'All Natural Food' Means Nothing
Hamilton Nolan · 09/20/11 08:22AMWill Gamers Discover the Cure for AIDS?
Lauri Apple · 09/18/11 07:08PMYou Will Soon Collapse in a Heap
Hamilton Nolan · 09/16/11 02:30PMThe Daily Show Mocks Bachmann's HPV Vaccine Conspiracy Theory
Matt Cherette · 09/15/11 10:41PMDuring Tuesday night's Republican presidential debate, Michele Bachmann attacked Texas Gov. Rick Perry for signing an executive order requiring teenage girls to be vaccinated against HPV, claiming the vaccine could cause mental retardation. Like most everything else she says, Bachmann was completely wrong. On tonight's Daily Show, Jon Stewart and Kristen Schaal hilariously took her to task for it.
Study Proves Gulf War Syndrome is Nerve Gas-Induced Brain Damage
Seth Abramovitch · 09/15/11 10:35PMThe condition known as Gulf War syndrome is said to affect 25 percent of Gulf War veterans, and is characterized by memory loss, lack of concentration, fatigue, neuropathic pain and depression. The Defense Department has argued for years that it is not, in fact, a treatable physiological condition, but rather a "form of combat stress." But scientists have just proven the opposite: It's conclusively the result of brain damage due to exposure to sarin nerve gas.
West Coast Heroin Now Comes With Free Botulism
Jeff Neumann · 09/15/11 04:37AMBad news for West Coast junkies (is there really any other kind of news for junkies?): Two cases of suspected botulism in Seattle have been blamed on tainted black tar heroin, in addition to four recently in Texas, according to the Los Angeles Times. It's especially bad because the only real way to find out your stash is tainted is to contract botulism!
How Much Does This Hurt, Exactly?
Hamilton Nolan · 09/14/11 04:11PMPeople Moving to West Virginia to Hide From Wi-Fi, Cell Phones
Lauri Apple · 09/14/11 03:37AMSome (different) people are so convinced that Wi-Fi and mobile phones are making them sick that they're moving to West Virginia's 13,000 square-mile U.S. Radio Quiet Zone, which has no wireless technology so as to avoid interfering with the local telescope. Hey, if Wi-Fi makes trees sick, why not humans?
What Ever Happened to All-Natural Drugs Like Heroin?
Hamilton Nolan · 09/13/11 03:40PMWe Now Know Why Fingers Wrinkle in Water
Maureen O'Connor · 09/12/11 12:45PMOne of the great mysteries of humankind—Why do my fingers get all wrinkly during baths?—has maybe-possibly been solved. Says science: "Much like the tread on a tire, [raisin fingers] improve traction." Sure, that sounds reasonable. Apparently the nervous system controls the wrinkle response, and it has nothing to do with bloating or water absorption. [Well, BrainBehavior&Evolution, Image via Afronova/Shutterstock]
Woman Injects Beef Fat Into Her Face to Simulate Botox, Then Dies
Seth Abramovitch · 09/11/11 10:02PMIf you don't have the money for plastic surgery, it's best not to take the home remedy approach. That's what 63-year-old Janet Hardt of Homewood, Illinois, did, and now she's dead! Except the coroner says the rendered beef fat she was injecting around her mouth and chin in a misguided — and delicious! — attempt at reducing wrinkles was not, in fact, what killed her.