Health & Wellness

Infertile in a Baby-Crazed World

Staff / Truthdig Aug 13, 2006 Glamour magazine runs a thoughtful piece about how we're witnessing "a rampaging, almost hysterical fixation on pregnancy and babies and how having them will transform your life and allow you to reach nirvana" -- and about the effect that's having on the infertile among us. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Heat Wave Kills 140 Californians

Staff / Truthdig Aug 11, 2006 About 140 Californians died last month from a severe heat wave, the most casualties since 1955, when air conditioning became widespread. Officials were left scrambling to explain the inordinately high number of deaths, unusual for a place where people are used to the summer heat. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Obesity Epidemic Linked to Soda, Study Says

Staff / Truthdig Aug 10, 2006 An extra can of soda a day can add 15 pounds a year, according to a report in a prestigious journal. And this kind of consumption may be the prime mover behind this nation's apocalyptically expanding waistlines. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

‘Popularity Dialer’ Offers Phone Escape Route

Staff / Truthdig Aug 4, 2006 Have you ever hoped your cell phone would ring in order to extricate you from a boring date or an unpleasant meeting? Well, The Popularity Dialer, via a Web interface, will ring you up and supply half of a conversation you can use to make your apologies and get the hell out. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Column: My Kids Bore Me to Death

Staff / Truthdig Aug 1, 2006 A working mother of two admits to one of parenthood's last great remaining taboos: that parenting is often mind-numbingly tedious, and that she'd almost always rather be doing something other than watching "SpongeBob" or making runs to soccer practice. The comments on this article offer a fascinating set of nuggets for would-be parents to chew on. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

FDA to Consider Over-Counter Sale of Morning-After Pill

Staff / Truthdig Jul 31, 2006 The government agency will weigh whether to let the drug (Plan B) be sold over the counter -- a move that conservative forces, inside the government and out, have long objected to as part of their proxy battle on abortion. This may be happening only because two senators have been blocking the appointment of the FDA's new head until the agency makes a decision on the drug. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

California Heat Wave Kills More Than 130

Staff / Truthdig Jul 31, 2006 California?s recent heat wave has caused the deaths of more than 130 people, officials believe. Though temperatures have been cooling, they hovered around 115 degrees in some parts of the state earlier in the week. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Jabari Asim: Closing the Racial Gap in Medical Treatment

Jabari Asim / Truthdig Jul 29, 2006 Why do African Americans still lag behind even recent African immigrants when it comes to beating heart disease and cancer? Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Denmark Is Happiest Country, Study Says

Staff / Truthdig Jul 29, 2006 According to a scientist at the University of Leicester in England, Burundi is the unhappiest country in the world, and the U.S. came in 23rd out of 178 countries ranked. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Readers Shocked, SHOCKED at Magazine’s Breast Cover

Staff / Truthdig Jul 29, 2006 Puritanism is reigning supreme once again as many readers of BabyTalk magazine were offended en masse by the sight of -- horror of horrors -- a breast offering sustenance to an infant on the magazine's cover. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Teens Will ‘Huff’ Anything These Days

Staff / Truthdig Jul 28, 2006 Two teenagers in France fell ill after sniffing mothballs as a recreational drug. One developed scaly skin on her legs and hands. Developed scaly skin after a close encounter with an insect? Sounds like Jeff Goldblum's transformation in "The Fly." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

A Brief History of Human Sex

Staff / Truthdig Jul 28, 2006 To get an idea of how we humans might act if unfettered by cultural restraints, we could look at bonobo chimpanzees, which engage in frequent sexual acts "a fairly quick, perfunctory and relaxed activity that functions as a social cement," according to an expert . Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )