Ward: Environment

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Young adults are using cannabis to sleep at alarming rates

More than 20% of young adults say they use cannabis or alcohol to fall asleep, with cannabis leading by a wide margin. Researchers warn this strategy can backfire, disrupting sleep quality and increasing the risk of long-term sleep and substance-use problems.

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Deaths of despair were rising long before opioids

Long before opioids flooded communities, something else was quietly changing—and it may have helped set the stage for today’s crisis. A new study finds that as church attendance dropped among middle-aged, less educated white Americans, deaths from overdoses, suicide, and alcohol-related disease bega…

111

I Thought My Daughter Was a Good Kid, but a Certain Habit of Hers Disturbs Me

How can we nip this in the bud?

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This Texas Family Was Part of the Biggest U.S. Measles Outbreak in a Generation

The measles outbreak in the United States is now in its 11th month, with almost 2,000 cases. The Timmons family were some of the first people to get sick.

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Illinois Health Officials Report First Dog Rabies Case in 31 Years

The affected dog, less than one-year-old, was euthanized last week.

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Eating high-fat cheese could lower dementia risk, study suggests

An observational study found people who ate 50 grams or more of high-fat cheese enjoyed a lower risk of dementia compared with people eating less than 15 grams.

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Freed Israeli Hostages Still Had Shrapnel in Their Bodies From Oct. 7 Attack

Some of the women were held alone for extended periods and spent eight months in tunnels, an Israeli medical official said.

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‘I Feel Like I’ve Been Lied To’: When a Measles Outbreak Hits Home

From a lone clinic in Texas to an entire school district in North Dakota, the virus is upending daily life and revealing a deeper crisis of belief.

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Ben Sasse, Former Nebraska Senator, Shares Terminal Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis

Mr. Sasse, a former senator from Nebraska, announced that he had received a diagnosis last week for Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

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Take our quiz on the year in health and biotechnology

In just a couple of weeks, we’ll be bidding farewell to 2025. And what a year it has been! Artificial intelligence is being incorporated into more aspects of our lives, weight-loss drugs have expanded in scope, and there have been some real “omg” biotech stories from the fields of gene therapy, IVF,…

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Gaza patients facing death as Israel continues to block medical supplies

More than 1,000 Palestinian patients have died while awaiting treatment abroad, amid collapse of Gaza healthcare sector.

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He ate a hamburger and died hours later. Doctors found a shocking cause

A rare tick-borne allergy linked to red meat has now been confirmed as deadly for the first time. A healthy New Jersey man collapsed and died hours after eating beef, with later testing revealing a severe allergic reaction tied to alpha-gal, a sugar spread by Lone Star tick bites. Symptoms often app…

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Sugar-free sweeteners may still be harming your liver

Sorbitol, a popular sugar-free sweetener, may not be as harmless as its label suggests. Researchers found it can be turned into fructose in the liver, triggering effects similar to regular sugar. Gut bacteria can neutralize some of it—but too much sorbitol or glucose can overwhelm that defense. The …

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4 reasons Americans aren’t drinking as much alcohol this holiday season — or any at all

The growing use of weight-loss drugs is one factor behind the decline in alcohol consumption.

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Fewer people would recommend MMR vaccine: Survey

As measles cases continue to spread across the country, a survey released Monday shows a “small but significant drop” in the proportion of the public that would recommend someone in their household get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. According to the poll from the Annenberg Public Pol…

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Sitting by a window may improve blood sugar levels for type 2 diabetes

Our cells follow 24-hour circadian rhythms that regulate our blood sugar levels and are heavily influenced by light exposure. Scientists have harnessed this to show that just sitting by a window improves blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes

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