There’s an old saying that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its boots. This possibility is especially noticeable and potentially harmful when it comes to health claims. How do medical myths get such widespread credence? Why We Fall for Medical Myths: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought […]
Imagine a dental diet designed to keep your teeth and gums in good health. What does it look like? Does it have any impact on your health beyond the limit of your tongue? A Dentist Champions the Dental Diet for Overall Health: Few people realize that there is a strong connection between gum infection (periodontitis) […]
Whoever said growing old isn’t for sissies really got it right. But not everyone has the same experience with aging. Why do some people do well up to and into their 90s, while others are over the hill in their 70s? Genetics certainly plays a role, but it is not the whole story by any […]
Do your New Year’s resolutions include getting more exercise? By now, everybody knows exercise is good for us. But a lot of people view it as a chore or a bore instead of a delight. How can you experience the joy of movement? Humans are built to move, and anthropologists have offered a hypothesis that […]
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has dominated life around the world this year. Now, the FDA has granted Emergency Use Authorization for two vaccines, one from Pfizer/BioNTech and one from Moderna. How will they alter the course of the pandemic? We offer listeners a coronavirus update for the close of this pandemic […]
Scientists have long suspected that vitamin D is crucial for the immune system to function properly. Presumably, that is why cod liver oil was utilized as a tonic to ward off colds and flu in northern climes. After all, as you get farther from the equator, you get less sunshine during the winter. Consequently, you […]
It seems obvious that to provide the proper treatment, a doctor first needs to know what is wrong. However, although medical experts have been focusing on improving diagnosis in medicine for more than a decade, people still suffer from delayed or incorrect diagnoses. In some cases, these result in diagnostic disasters. We hear from a […]
These are stressful times. Many people are grieving the death of a loved one, while others are struggling with working or studying from home. Being separated from loved ones can be emotionally draining. How are you dealing with the mental health challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic? Trauma and Kids’ Mental Health: Trauma, like that experienced […]
Working from home during the pandemic has wrought havoc with a lot of healthy eating habits. It’s harder to shop safely, and minimizing time in the grocery store may mean people have stocked up on shelf-stable highly processed foods. What’s more, lots of us have been responding to stress by eating sweet or salty treats […]
SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, has infected many millions of people both in the United States and around the world. The death toll is horrifying, with more than a quarter of a million people in the US alone. With infections soaring as we head into winter, the news that a couple of vaccines against […]
The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus behind COVID-19 is changing. This should not be a surprise, since microbes evolve by nature. What implications might this have for the infection in future months? We speak with an evolutionary biologist to see how his perspective can illuminate the pandemic. How Do Microbes Evolve? SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus that evolved initially […]
One of the striking things about the COVID-19 pandemic is how differently people respond. Some people contract the virus but never really have symptoms, while others land in the hospital struggling for breath. More than a million people around the world have died from the infection, with about a quarter of those in the US. […]
The conventional view of the digestive system was that it took care of digestion and wasn’t involved very much with the rest of the body’s systems. Now, though, science has shown that the gut and the millions of microbes that live in it have a profound impact on other aspects of our body, from immune […]
Far too many Americans have died of COVID-19 during 2020, but heart disease is still the number one killer. Moreover, people with heart disease are more vulnerable to complications from the coronavirus. What should they do to protect their hearts? How People Can Protect Their Hearts: There are a few things that everyone can and […]
Two out three people with Alzheimer disease are women. Why are they at higher risk for this devastating condition than men? Even more important, how can they reduce their risk for dementia? Many of the usual explanations for this imbalance don’t stand up well to scrutiny. Too many of them have been accepted without much […]
Experts estimate that 30 million people worldwide have had COVID-19. More than a million have died, and approximately 20 million have recovered. However, while health professionals usually think of this as an acute illness, recovery may be far slower than anticipated. The CDC has found that 35% of adults who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 still […]
Very likely you have heard of children who are allergic to peanuts. Sometimes the tiniest whiff of peanut dust can trigger a frightening reaction. Food allergies have been increasing dramatically among American children. In fact, one in 13 is vulnerable to a serious or life-threatening consequence if they accidentally consume the wrong food. The rate […]
Until December of 2019, doctors had no experience with pandemic that has now killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world. As the infection raced from country to country, they tried a lot of different treatments that seemed promising. But in many places, the onslaught of serious cases was so extreme that scientists couldn’t […]
Kidney stones afflict an estimated three million Americans each year, resulting in at least half a million trips to the emergency department. But what are they and what can you do about them? How do they form and how might you prevent them? We hear from a listener who has first-hand experience of the pain […]
Back in May, 2020, we spoke with a scientist known internationally as the coronavirus hunter. Dr. Ralph Baric has been studying coronaviruses for more than three decades. He was involved in the early research on some possible drugs to treat people with COVID-19. Five months is a short time under normal circumstances, but the pandemic […]
This show first aired in June, 2019, before anyone had heard of SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19. Today, understanding how your immune system works to overcome an infection is more important than ever. Just how does your immune system manage to ward off unwanted bacteria or viruses? This “elegant defense” is sometimes described as though it were […]
We have had eight months of COVID-19 pandemic, and there is nobody anywhere who isn’t ready for it to be over. That is why there is quite a bit of excitement about the potential for vaccines. Several have started phase 3 trials already. What does that mean and what can we expect? Where Will We […]
The microbiome–the genome of our collective microbiota–has become a trendy topic in medicine lately. With more microbial than human cells in our bodies, it’s becoming clear we should think of ourselves as collectives. Citizen scientists have been contributing to the understanding of microbiota biodiversity through the American Gut Project. Yet most of us don’t really […]
A couple of decades ago, most people had never heard of celiac disease. Many doctors had never diagnosed a case, and they had often learned it was an extremely rare condition. Following a gluten-free diet, the only treatment, was really difficult. Today, millions of people avoid gluten in their diets. Not all of them have […]
When Jim Kwik was a little boy, he had a bad fall that resulted in a concussion. He struggled with learning problems throughout elementary school and even later. But he eventually learned to stop thinking of himself as the boy with the broken brain. In fact, he now has mastered accelerated learning and teaches the […]
In these challenging times, keeping our brains healthy and working well is important. Social isolation can be debilitating, but there are approaches that can help counteract these difficulties. Research on Maintaining Memory: What does new research tell us about achieving maximum memory fitness? How important is it for us to take care of conditions like […]
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been cropping up around the world. These superbugs cause serious problems, especially when they fail to respond to increasingly potent medications. One approach may be to put a very old, natural treatment to work. The theory is that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Enlist viruses that infect these bacteria. […]
For decades, the tobacco industry was able to ward off anti-smoking policy by claiming that science did not support it. In hindsight, it is clear that most epidemiologists came to the conclusion that smoking is bad for health without much delay. But tobacco companies were able to exploit disagreements over a few facts to sow […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of having a healthy immune system. It appears that more than three-fourths of the people who contract the infection recover without hospitalization or obvious lingering effects. The others, however, get really sick. We can assume that our immune systems mediate our response to the virus. We want it […]
The telomeres that cap our chromosomes are a good way to gauge biological aging. Dr. Elissa Epel, who studies aging and metabolism at UCSF, has found a link between soda consumption and cellular aging, even in young children (Childhood Obesity, April 2018). She and her colleagues took advantage of a natural experiment at the University […]
