Recent Episodes
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A New Tick Spit Protein is a Potent Immunomodulator
Behind mosquitos, ticks pose the greatest health risk to us among all creepy crawlies and animals. They can transmit microbes that cause serious diseases such as Lyme disease and babesiosis, an infection of red blood cells. Ticks pass on pathogens when they latch onto our skin using their mouths to feed on our blood. Proteins in their saliva immobilize our immune response, and scientists have been studying this mechanism for ways to manipulate it to our benefit.
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Dementia and Super Agers
While Dave and I both want to age well, we don't know how much is out of our hands or how much damage has already been done. We'll discuss two studies on brain health to show that you can improve it - but only up to a point.
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Attack on RNA Vaccines
One way to gauge the value of the COVID-19 vaccines is to calculate how many people would have been sickened and died without them. Just in the US, we would have had one and a half times more infections, nearly 4 times more people hospitalized, 4 times more deaths, and more than $1 trillion in added medical costs.
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Men's Brains Age Faster
It's a fact that women live longer than men, and the latest figures, from 2023, show it's by an average of 5 years. Not fair! Then you will not be happy about this! Now a new study suggests that their brains age differently, with men's brains shrinking faster than women's.
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US Attitude Toward Science
In the past year, many of our core beliefs about science and health have been publicly challenged. We've been told to disregard pollution and that vaccines are unneeded. Dave and I worry this is creating doubts about the value of American research programs. But a recent non-partisan survey by Research America shows people do care.
