Joaquin Phoenix’s murderous clown in the film “Joker” has stirred up serious concerns about violence this fall. And for many people, the role of a clown as supervillain bolsters a long-held conviction that double-faced clowns are evil. But I’m here to offer a defense. As the mother of a child with special needs, clowns helped…
In a frank and public act of self-examination, a group of doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital published an article Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine detailing the missteps that led to the death of a cancer patient who received a fecal transplant as part of an experimental trial. The man who died, and…
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A healthy diet may help relieve the symptoms of depression. There is good evidence from observational studies that diet can affect mood, and now a randomized controlled trial suggests that healthy eating can modestly improve clinical levels of depression. The study, in PLOS One, randomized 76 college students with poor diet and depression symptoms to…
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Does fish make children smarter? There is some evidence that it might. In two reviews of data from 44 studies, researchers have concluded that eating seafood during pregnancy and childhood is associated with improved performance on tests of mental skills. The analyses, published in the journal PLEFA, included 29 studies with 102,944 mother-child pairs, and…
A former top executive of Juul is alleging that the e-cigarette giant sold at least one million contaminated mint-flavored nicotine pods — and refused to recall them when told about the problem. In a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday, Siddharth Breja, who was senior…
When Americans are asked whether they support a “Medicare for all” system that would replace all current insurance with a generous government program, a majority often say yes. But when they’re asked follow-up questions, they often reveal that they’re not familiar with the details of that plan — or that they would also be happy…
A pediatrician accused of reusing syringes and infecting scores of Pakistani children with H.I.V. is now practicing in a government-run hospital after his private clinic was shuttered, in a case that is raising widespread questions about the integrity of Pakistan’s health care system. The pediatrician, Muzaffar Ghanghro, was initially the sole focus of blame in…
Taking more steps during the day may be related to better sleep at night, according to an encouraging new study of lifestyle and sleep patterns. The study, which delved into the links between walking and snoozing, suggests that being active can influence how well we sleep, whether we actually exercise or not. Sleep and exercise…