“Wait —” is a weekly newsletter in which Caity Weaver investigates an unanswered (and possibly unasked) question in the news and pop culture. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox. The ancient Greek poets tell us that Achilles honed many of his survival skills (medicine, martial arts, playing the lyre well) under the…
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Dr. Doris L. Wethers, who broke racial barriers in the medical world before gaining renown for research and advocacy that helped lead to mandatory testing of all newborns for sickle cell anemia, died on Jan. 28 in Yonkers. She was 91. The cause was complications of a stroke, her daughter-in-law Lisa Booker said. In 1965,…
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Here was the challenge for bioengineers: Find a way to for patients to take drugs — like insulin or monoclonal antibodies used to treat cancers and other diseases — without injections. The medicines are made of molecules too big to be absorbed through the stomach or intestines; in any event, the drugs would be quickly…
DetailsAbdominal ultrasounds use sound waves to create images of structures and blood flow in the abdomen. These ultrasound images are a useful way of examining organs, tissues, blood vessels, and other structures within the abdomen. Ultrasound imaging involves sending high-frequency sound waves into the body. These waves reflect off of organs and other structures inside…
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Less than a week into Black History Month, in two episodes of retail déjà vu, Adidas and Gucci have apologized and pulled products criticized as racist. The offending Gucci item was an $890 black-knit women’s balaclava that could be pulled up over the lower half of the wearer’s face. The sweater included bright red lips…
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Certainly the patient never knew where the hip pain came from, or why its left leg stopped working. The diagnosis arrived only 240 million years later, when a femur turned up in an ancient lake bed in Germany, one side marred by a malignant bone tumor. Cancer seldom appears in the fossil record, and its…
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It tingles. It feels good. And it has nothing to do with sex. (Unless you want it to.) By now, you may have heard of the phenomenon of A.S.M.R., the soothing, static-like sensation that some people feel in response to certain triggers. These “brain tingles” are often said to pulsate on the scalp or back,…
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When my mother died suddenly last year, at the age of 63, they started coming: gift cards for Seamless, GrubHub and Uber Eats that pinged softly in my inbox. “Don’t forget to eat,” read the note accompanying one credit. Another said, “Because you can’t eat flowers.” Many of these sympathy gifts came from friends living…
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Living alone may be bad for your health. Danish researchers began studying 3,346 men, average age 63, in 1985, tracking their health for 32 years. Over the period, 89 percent of the men died, 39 percent from cardiovascular diseases. The analysis, in European Heart Journal Quality of Care & Clinical Outcomes, controlled for a variety…
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LONDON — With even Silicon Valley worrying about the effect of technology exposure on young people, Britain’s top doctors on Thursday issued advice to families about social media and screen use. Their prescriptions: Leave phones outside the bedroom. Screen-free meals are a good idea. When in doubt, don’t upload. And get more exercise. “Technology can…
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