Category: 4. Health

Published recently in the peer-reviewed Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, the study found that 18- to 24-year-olds who had received their first smartphone at age 12 or younger were more likely to report suicidal thoughts, aggression, detachment from reality, poorer emotional regulation, and low self-worth.

The…

Excessive amounts of visceral fat — the hidden fat surrounding organs — is linked with faster aging of the heart, a new study has found.

Aging is the biggest risk factor for heart disease, but why some people age faster than others isn’t fully understood. The scientists leading the research say that visceral body fat could play an important role…

In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at New Mexico’s plans to build a quantum computing ecosystem, a startup that can take methane and turn it into clean fuel for cheap, shocking your immune system for faster healing and more. To get The Prototype in your inbox, sign up here.

New Mexico is teaming up with the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to invest in quantum computing. Under…

Despite mounting evidence that connect drinking to multiple diseases and high levels of morbidity and mortality, the federal government won’t publicly release a final version of a major study on alcohol and its health harms, according to STAT News. The draft report, entitled Alcohol Intake and Health Study, found that even moderate drinking (one or two drinks a…

In a reckless move that endangers public health, Florida’s Surgeon General…

I was shocked and saddened when I read about the potential new vaccine policy in Florida yesterday. As a pediatrician, I’ve seen many sick children over the years, many unvaccinated and struck by diseases that could have been prevented.

I remember the five-month-old baby with high fevers for three days that came into the ER with his distraught parents. We did an array of tests that included a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to see if he had meningitis or a blood infection. The child had not…

The priciest thing in American healthcare right now isn’t a biologic or a breakthrough device. It’s bad information. Medical misinformation from social media platforms isn’t just a battle in the culture wars; it’s an expanding cost center. AI has supercharged the volume and velocity of bad claims and plausible nonsense, platforms still reward novelty over accuracy, and the bill shows up as ER…

Infant mortality has risen in states that enacted tighter abortion restrictions in the wake of the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision. This occurs for newborns – those less than a day old – as well as older infants – those 1 month to 1 year old.

In addition, states with new restrictions that include health exceptions, which permit an abortion to be performed to save the life of the mother or in the case of life-limiting fetal abnormality, experience a similar…

Colorado has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation, at 20.9 per 100,000 in 2023. Of the state’s 940 gun deaths that year, nearly 72% were by suicide.

Nationally, firearms are the leading cause of death for American youth ages 1 to 17. More than 1 in 4 youth firearm deaths nationwide are due to suicide, with a parent’s firearm most often the weapon used.

Firearm-related injuries and suicide both are highly sensitive and stigmatized topics that many people are reluctant…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, long considered the nation’s – if not the world’s – premier public health organization, is mired in a crisis that not only threatens Americans’ health but also its very survival as a leading public health institution.

The degree of this crisis was on full display during Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Sept. 4, 2025, testimony before the U.S. Senate.

In the hearing, Kennedy openly criticized CDC…