Federal drug policy rarely changes fast. For more than half a century, marijuana sat in the same legal category as heroin and LSD, federally classified as one of the most dangerous and medically worthless substances known to science. Millions of patients used state-legal cannabis to manage pain, nausea, seizures, and PTSD, all while the federal...
Most people don’t think much about their eye lens until something starts going wrong. Maybe it’s that oncoming headlights seem unusually harsh at night, or the colors in a favorite painting look duller than they used to. Perhaps you keep updating your glasses prescription, and it still doesn’t feel quite right. These are the kinds...
Most people don’t think much about their body until something feels off. A cough that won’t quit. Fatigue that sleep doesn’t fix. A mole that looks slightly different from what it did six months ago. These moments pass through the mind quickly, then get filed under “probably nothing.” Sometimes that’s true. But sometimes that quiet...
Think about the people in your life who leave you feeling lighter after every interaction. You can’t always explain why. They didn’t solve your problems or say anything extraordinary. They just made you feel a little better for having been in the room with them. Most of us can name one or two of these...
Most people picture dementia as something that creeps up in old age, something that belongs to a distant future most of us would rather not think about too carefully. But the science is shifting that picture in an uncomfortable direction. A wave of large-scale research is identifying the dementia risk factors that accumulate long before...
Most people spend a lot of time thinking about what they eat and how much they exercise. Sleep – if it comes up at all – is usually framed as a duration problem. Are you getting your seven hours? But a growing body of research is quietly making the case that this framing misses a...
You’ve probably had a conversation that left you feeling like you did something wrong – even though you were the one who brought up a real concern. You walked into it clear-headed, and you walked out apologizing. Maybe you tried again later, only for the whole thing to flip on you again, faster this time....
Pancreatic cancer is the kind of diagnosis that stops time. Whether you’ve heard it from a doctor yourself, watched a family member receive it, or followed a colleague’s quiet, difficult year after it, you know that the words land differently than almost any other cancer news. There’s a particular helplessness that settles in around it...
Scientists may have found evidence for an Alzheimer’s Death Switch, a harmful brain process that could help explain how the disease destroys cells. Scientists at Heidelberg University, working with researchers at Shandong University, identified a harmful protein pairing in an Alzheimer’s mouse model. They then used an experimental compound called FP802 to break that pairing...
What looks like another TikTok trend about people finding new reasons to be disgusted about their food may be rooted in more than eliciting views and likes from drama or ragebait reactions. Psychologists who study smell and taste have shown that our senses play a direct role in shaping what we eat and our broader...
On Tuesday, April 22, 2026, the Pentagon ended its decades-long requirement that all U.S. military personnel receive an annual flu vaccine. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military will no longer require all American troops to get the flu vaccine, citing “medical autonomy” and religious freedom. A memorandum signed by Hegseth on Monday...
News of an anxiety medication recall has raised concern among patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers across the United States. For many people, medications used to manage anxiety are part of daily life. They help reduce panic, stabilize mood, and allow individuals to function more comfortably in high-stress situations. So, when a widely used prescription drug...
