Health & Safety

Allyson and Eddie, clients at the AAC Needle Exchange and Overdose Prevention Program in Cambridge, Mass., say they carry naloxone and try to never use drugs alone to reduce the risk of overdosing.

Fentanyl Adds A New Terror For People Abusing Opioids

5:14pm April 06, 2017

by Martha Bebinger

People who abuse opioids are well aware of the risk posed by fentanyl, a powerful anesthetic that's increasingly slipped into heroin and other drugs. They're coming up with new tactics to survive.

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Archaeologists have suggested that Stone Age people sometimes ate one another for nutritional reasons. But a new study suggests that from a calorie perspective, hunting and eating other humans wasn't efficient.

Bison Or Brian? From A Calorie Perspective, Cannibalism Didn't Pay For Paleo Humans

4:52pm April 06, 2017

by Angus Chen

Archaeological records show ancient humans sometimes ate each other. A new study suggests that hunting and eating other humans cost too much effort to be a regular thing. So why'd they do it?

CDC Issues New Warning On Zika Virus Ahead Of Mosquito Season

4:30pm April 06, 2017

NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Margaret Honein, co-leader for the CDC Zika Response Team's Pregnancy and Birth Defects Task Force, about the latest guidance on Zika at the start of mosquito season.

Competition for scarce funding and tenure may be prompting some scientists to cut corners.

How Flawed Science Is Undermining Good Medicine

9:21am April 06, 2017

U.S. taxpayers pay $30 billion a year to fund biomedical research aimed at finding better treatments. But competition for scarce funding and tenure may be prompting some scientists to cut corners.

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A family sells pastries in Mexico City. As Mexicans' wages have risen, their average daily intake of calories has soared.

How Diabetes Got To Be The No. 1 Killer In Mexico

10:46pm April 05, 2017

by Jason Beaubien

Diabetes has become a public health crisis in Mexico. The government is struggling to pay for care and slow the rate at which people develop the life-threatening metabolic disorder.

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A Syrian child is treated at a hospital in the town of Maaret al-Noman after a suspected chemical attack on April 4.

Health & Safety

Why Children Face The Greatest Danger From Chemical Weapons

7:56pm April 05, 2017

by Rina Shaikh-Lesko

The effects of such weapons are more devastating for a number of reasons. And if children survive, they suffer from the trauma of the attack for far more years because they have more years to live.

Emergency Room Doctors Are Picking Noses — For Drug Delivery, That Is

4:58pm April 05, 2017

by Jessica Boddy

Nasal versions of sedatives and overdose drugs are increasingly popular in emergency departments. Doctors like that they act quickly and don't require an IV to administer.

An appeals court hears arguments Wednesday on the future of Philly's landmark tax on sweetened drinks. The money is funding preschool for low-income kids, but the soda industry says it's losing jobs.

Judges Take Up Big Soda's Suit To Abolish Philadelphia's Sugar Tax

12:13pm April 05, 2017

by Allison Aubrey

An appeals court hears arguments Wednesday on the future of Philly's landmark tax on sweetened drinks. The money is funding preschool for low-income kids, but the soda industry says it's losing jobs.

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Researchers have found a set of six simple questions are a reliable way for doctors to screen for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults.

Do You Zone Out? Procrastinate? Might Be Adult ADHD

12:06pm April 05, 2017

by Rebecca Hersher

Six questions like "How often do you procrastinate?" can help doctors identify adults with ADHD, researchers say. They estimate that the disorder impairs daily functions for about 8 percent of adults.

Coalition forces fire a Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle during a training exercise in Afghanistan's Helmand province in 2013.

Do U.S. Troops Risk Brain Injury When They Fire Heavy Weapons?

8:11am April 05, 2017

by Jon Hamilton

Some modern shoulder-fired weapons produce blast waves powerful enough to rattle the brain. A $30 million study aims to help the military figure out how much blast exposure, over time, is too much.

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