A growing body of research has linked milk consumption to potentially negative health effects, particularly when it comes to aging — and yet, other studies have found that consuming fermented milk products like yogurt and kefir may help protect health. A new study out of Germany explores the effects of pasteurized non-fermented milk on health and why fermented dairy doesn’t have the same negative impact. Sweden is often the focus when it comes to dairy studies for one big reason: milk consumption in the nation is high. This provides researchers with a chance to study the potential effects of milk…

Steven E. Koonin ‘The Science,” we’re told, is settled. How many times have you heard it? Humans have broken the earth’s climate. Temperatures are rising, sea level is surging, ice is disappearing, and heat waves, storms, droughts, floods, and wildfires are an ever-worsening scourge on the world. Greenhouse gas emissions are causing all of this. And unless they’re eliminated promptly by radical changes to society and its energy systems, “The Science” says Earth is doomed. Yes, it’s true that the globe is warming, and that humans are exerting a warming influence upon it. But beyond that — to paraphrase the…

The Journal of Psychopharmacology published a study in 2016 in which researchers found that a one-time, single-dose of psilocybin offered rapid improvements in the levels of anxiety, depression and dread of death in cancer patients. A recent update found that the single dose, combined with psychotherapy, led to long-lasting improvements in these patients approximately five years later. Psilocybin, a compound found in psychedelic mushrooms, was given to patients in the study in 2016 and resulted in immediate, substantial relief of symptoms that was sustained and documented at their follow-ups more than six months later. Almost five years later, researchers found…

Experts don’t know yet because they’re still studying vaccinated people to see when protection might wear off. How well the vaccines work against emerging variants will also determine if, when and how often additional shots might be needed. “We only have information for as long as the vaccines have been studied,” said Deborah Fuller, a vaccine researcher at the University of Washington. “We have to study the vaccinated population and start to see, at what point do people become vulnerable again to the virus?” So far, Pfizer’s ongoing trial indicates the company’s two-dose vaccine remains highly effective for at least…