Baby talk is a cultural universal among humans. Speaking to infants in high pitches, soft tones, and almost unintelligible words are common to societies around the world, according to a study by researchers from Harvard’s Music Lab. There are several theories for why talking to babies in such a manner is a commonality among humans. …
Continue reading “Dolphin Mothers Use Baby Talk with Calves”
Uranium-based nuclear reactors rely on the isotope uranium-235 to make energy. Currently, there is far more uranium-238 (146 neutrons) than 235 (143 neutrons) in naturally occurring ore, where the isotopes vary greatly in their stability. Therefore, uranium goes through a process of enrichment to extract the U-235, since this isotope makes up only about .72% …
Continue reading “Ancient Natural Nuclear Reactor – How Did it Work?”
Children between the ages of 5 and 18 are sleeping two hours fewer per night than they did 100 years ago. The ramifications of this major shift in sleeping patterns are seldom discussed. Some recent studies have pointed to how high social media use is stealing sleep from teenagers and pre-teens, with these individuals losing …
Continue reading “Sleep Deprivation in Children & ADHD Symptoms”
In the US, most people average less than 6 hours of sleep per night, when the amount needed for a healthy functioning body is between 7-9 hours. Sleep deprivation has a variety of negative effects on the body, including the type of daytime fatigue that leads to car accidents, difficulty concentrating, and reduced ability to …
A hundred and five years ago, the last captive Carolina parakeet died at the Cincinnati Zoo. This species of parrot was the only one native to the eastern United States. At one time in American history, flocks of 200-300 of these parrots could be seen in forests from Florida to New York. The parrot has …
Continue reading “Carolina Parakeet: Lost Parrot of the Eastern US”
One of the most influential pieces in the field of public health is a paper called Sick Individuals and Sick Populations, written by Geoffrey Rose in 1985. Rose describes how the root cause of a disease within a population may be hidden if the cause is homogenously distributed throughout the population. Although the paper was …
Continue reading “Geoffrey Rose & Prevention Theory: What is Healthy?”
In the US, about 20 million people live with some degree of age-related macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of vision loss in individuals 60 and older. The macula is an oval-shaped spot of pigmentation on the retina, and the degeneration of this part of the eye results in a loss of sharp vision. …
Recently, the drug Wegovy was approved for use in the UK. Similar to other brand-name semaglutide pharmaceuticals such as Ozempic, Wegovy can be used to treat diabetes. It involves a weekly injection in the stomach, thigh, or arm. It has recently made the news, however, for supposedly being a “game changer” for weight loss, and …
Continue reading “Wegovy – the Side Effects and Controversy”
We have all heard of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) being used for pharmaceutical products, where one group receives the actual drug and the other receives a placebo. The results of the trial indicate whether the true medicine has a positive effect that is greater than the one potentially caused by the placebo. But what are …
Continue reading “Examining Randomized Controlled Trials for Surgery”
Last week, Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida promised to begin preparations to downgrade COVID-19 to the same disease level as the seasonal flu. In the UK, those under 50 who are healthy and without preexisting conditions like cancer will no longer be offered the COVID booster. Last year, the Danish government stopped offering the vaccine …
Continue reading “Dissecting an Attempt by CNN to Fearmonger”
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