ScienceHealth

Johnson & Johnson Fails to Have $4.69 Billion Cancer Verdict Thrown Out

Johnson & Johnson, which lost a lawsuit brought by 22 women and their families who claimed their ovarian mesotheliomas were caused by talc products contaminated with the carcinogen asbestos to the tune of $4.69 billion in July, has failed to have the verdict thrown out on jurisdictional grounds. According to the New York Times, the … Continued

ScienceHealth

Report: Johnson & Johnson Knew About Asbestos in Its Baby Powder Products for Decades

An explosive new report by Reuters released Friday may upturn the narrative surrounding the potential cancer risks of talcum powder. According to the report, Johnson & Johnson—the makers of the most popular consumer talc product, Baby Powder—knew for decades that its products at times contained carcinogenic asbestos, but did everything possible to keep its findings … Continued

Tech News

Samsung Apologizes After Workers at Its Chip Factories Were Sickened or Died 

Samsung has issued a formal apology to its workers who were sickened and died at its chip and display factories. The apology arrived as part of a settlement the company reached with victims of maladies that reportedly included cancer and miscarriages. “Our effort was insufficient to better understand the pain affected workers and their families … Continued

ScienceHealth

Why Cancer Is Replacing Heart Disease as the Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.

Heart disease has long been the number one killer in the United States. But a new study out this week is the latest to suggest that it’s only a matter of time before the second leading cause of death—cancer—becomes more commonly fatal for the average person. On the bright side, though, that’s largely because we’ve … Continued

ScienceHealth

Nobel Prize for Medicine Awarded to Researchers Who Harnessed the Immune System to Fight Cancer

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been jointly awarded to a pair of immunologists for devising an effective new class of cancer therapy that unshackles the body’s immune system. Congratulations to James P. Allison, professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Tasuku Honjo, professor at Kyoto University in … Continued

ScienceBiology

Your Genetic Testing Results Can Change—Here’s Why

The first wave of routine genetics testing has already helped millions of people learn about their hereditary risk for certain diseases like cancer. But a new study published Tuesday in JAMA suggests that as our knowledge of genetics expands, these initial results sometimes need to be revised. Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical … Continued

ScienceHealth

Scientists Are Turning Zika Virus Into a Weapon Against Brain Cancer

A devastating viral disease could actually help treat and prevent brain cancer in the future, suggests yet more research, published Tuesday in MBio. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch and elsewhere successfully used a modified version of the Zika virus to selectively kill off certain stem cells that allow brain tumors to stay … Continued

ScienceHealth

Crowdfunding Sites Are Putting Money in the Pockets of Cancer Quacks, Report Finds

It’s become a heartbreakingly common sight on the internet: People using crowdfunding sites to raise money for their expensive health care, including cancer treatment. But a new report published Wednesday in the BMJ suggests that desperate people are often using this money to pursue dubious, possibly dangerous treatments from unscrupulous charlatans. The report, written by … Continued

ScienceHealth

Don’t Tell People Coffee Causes Cancer, FDA Warns California

The Food and Drug Administration is trying to stop the state of California from going ahead and abiding with a controversial court decision, one that would mandate coffee sold in the state come with a label warning people it could cause cancer. Since 1986, California has had a law that demands companies selling any products … Continued

Tech News

These Medical Miracles Were Supposed to Happen by the Year 2000

Americans who opened the newspaper on January 5, 1961, were greeted with an article by Associated Press science writer John Barbour. He described the futuristic world of the year 2000 and the great medical advances that would be achieved by then. And quite frankly, reading about all of the medical miracles we were supposed to … Continued

Tech News

Should I Worry About Asbestos From the New York Pipe Explosion?

A steam pipe blew up just blocks away from the Gizmodo office this morning, emitting a plume of white smoke on New York City’s Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District. The Gizmodo writers are all fine, unfortunately for you. But The New York Times reports that city officials believe the pipe, installed in 1932, might … Continued

ScienceHealth

Coffee Sold in California Might Not Get Cancer Warning Labels After All

Officials with California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) have intervened to nullify a recent court ruling saying coffee sold in the state—say, like at a local Starbucks—must be accompanied by warning labels saying brewed coffee contains the carcinogen acrylamide. The Los Angeles Superior Court ruling ordered producers to put warning labels on the … Continued

ScienceHealth

An Experimental Spit Test Could Identify Men Most at Risk of Prostate Cancer

A test developed by scientists in the UK and US might someday be able to pinpoint the men most likely to get prostate cancer. A new study published Monday in Nature Genetics suggests the test can detect the one percent of men who are genetically most vulnerable to developing prostate cancer, a leading cause of … Continued

ScienceHealth

No, Harvard Isn’t Studying How to Cure Cancer Through Diet 

Over the past few weeks, multiple media outlets have written about Kathy Bero, a 54-year-old woman who claims her breast cancer 12 years ago was ultimately defeated through a special diet and diligent use of reiki, an alternative medicine that purports to treat disease via healing energy channeled through a person’s hands. Her recovery was … Continued

ScienceHealth

Doctors Remove 132-Pound Nightmare Tumor From Connecticut Woman’s Abdomen

A 38-year-old woman was forced to endure the sort of body horror that would make John Carpenter shudder: An all-consuming, if benign, ovarian tumor that swelled up to 132 pounds. But thankfully, doctors were able to successfully remove the monstrosity with relative ease. According to the woman’s doctors at the Danbury Hospital in Connecticut, she … Continued

ScienceHealth

No, a Study Didn’t Just Prove That Cellphones Cause Brain Cancer

Yet another study claiming to show a connection between cancer and cellphones—this time from the UK—is making the rounds. But plenty of scientists are saying the new paper is misleading. The authors, using data from the UK Office of National Statistics, tracked the incidence of all diagnosed brain cancer cases within England from 1995 to … Continued

ScienceBiology

This Gene-Editing Breakthrough Could Provide Hyper-Specific Cancer Diagnoses

Ever since researchers first discovered that bacterial immune systems could be hijacked to selectively change DNA in living creatures, CRISPR gene-editing technology has been limited by the boundaries of the cell wall. CRISPR allows scientists to cut and paste little bits of DNA, swapping out even single letters of DNA to correct disease-causing genetic mutations. … Continued

io9Movies

Deadpool Wants to Give You His Snazzy New Pink Suit for a Very Good Cause

Do you think Ryan Reynolds actually sits down in costume for every Deadpool 2 ad spot that isn’t just footage from the actual movie, or is it just some guy in a suit with Reynolds’ voice dubbed over in post? Either way, whoever this pink Deadpool is, he’s got a very special proposal he’d like … Continued

Tech News

Starbucks Must Tell Customers Its Coffee Contains a Cancer-Causing Ingredient, But Don’t Panic

Earlier Wednesday, a California Superior Court judge issued a proposed ruling that’s bound to stress out lots of java drinkers—even if it probably shouldn’t. Companies like Starbucks will have to tell customers that their coffee can potentially cause cancer. The case was first brought before the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2010 by the … Continued

ScienceHealth

Scientists Just Discovered a New Human Organ, and It’s Filled With Secrets

Anatomy books are in need of a major upgrade, argue a team of scientists in a paper published Tuesday in the journal Scientific Reports. They say the body contains a previously undiscovered network of fluid-filled pockets and collagen underneath the skin that covers most of the body and internal organs. More than that, the structure … Continued