When outdoor temperatures spike to 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius), or drop to -9 F (-23 C), like they did across Pennsylvania last year, people locked up in jails…
Category: Anthropology
Can social media bans protect young people’s mental health? Early research suggests that bans aren’t the answer
The year 2026 has been an expensive one for social media platforms. Since March, YouTube and Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, have settled or paid out in…
Ketamine’s role in alleged Cornell rape highlights flood of psychoactive drugs on campus
Former Cornell student Jane Doe, who filed a civil lawsuit in September 2026 alleging that seven fraternity members raped her at a party, said the young men who assaulted her…
Cystic fibrosis patients got their ‘miracle drug’ thanks to federal research funding – new Trump administration rules may cut future miracles short
The hardest disease to care for when I was training as a pediatrician in the late 1970s was cystic fibrosis, a disease in which abnormally thick mucus secretions block the…
I’m a pediatrician and a mom
Four words that parents in the classroom group chat dread to read: ‘My kid has lice.’ Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) are parasites that primarily infest children in childcare, preschool…
Pope Leo XIV’s lung cancer highlights growing number of nonsmokers diagnosed with the disease – and younger people too
When many people think of an average lung cancer patient, they often imagine an older man smoking. But the face of lung cancer has changed. Over the past 15 years,…
Which nicotine product is actually the least harmful?
“Do you smoke cigarettes?” I asked my patient succinctly in a recent clinic appointment. He matter-of-factly responded, “Not anymore, I use Zyn pouches now.” As with any patient, I gauged…
That brightly packaged sexual enhancement pill at the gas station might be laced with dangerous drugs
Brightly colored packaging, promises of better sexual performance and names like “Rhino,” “Anaconda” and “Magnum” make sexual enhancement products difficult to miss. They can be found online, in convenience stores…
I teach doctors how to interpret test results – and the labels ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ often hide what matters most
Mr. V felt tightness across his chest. His deepest breaths felt shallow. He sought help at an emergency department, where a resident physician found several worrying signs, including swelling of…
When abortion and surrogacy law collide, contracts can’t answer the hardest questions
Surrogacy arrangements – agreements for someone to carry a pregnancy for the intended parents – have existed for millennia, and modern surrogacy contracts for half a century. These contracts typically…
