What if you suddenly got a public service announcement that someone had poisoned the city’s water supply with botulinum? What would you do? Who would you believe? Would you be angry at the city because they didn’t protect the water? What if it wasn’t botulinum but another chemical whose side…

Medical imaging has come a long way in the past 50 years. No longer is an X-ray the only tool used to see inside the body: now we have CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds and more. These techniques are non-invasive, and the physician gets to view the tissue or organ. The idea of making tissues trans…

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” — George Bernard Shaw

When Maria went in for her routine check-up, she never imagined that a single Pap test would save her life.

How does carbon monoxide (CO) kill you and your family? CO is a sneaky, extremely dangerous gas. People in the south are quite possibly more at risk than our neighbors to the north. This is possibly true because we have less cold weather and less knowledge about how CO is made and how danger…

A recent report in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet listed risk factors that could be used to prevent dementia. The scientists estimate that close to 50 percent of dementia cases can be delayed or prevented. That would make dementia similar to heart disease where there are several …

Probiotics, often referred to as “good bacteria,” have long been associated with improved digestion. Recent studies are shining a spotlight on their broader health benefits, linking them to enhanced immunity, mental health, and even weight management. With targeted research revealing the imp…

Our life is full of initials and codes. There is not a day that you do not interact with a code of some sort like a bar code or a QR code. Think of all the initials that now mean something to us like CCTV or DNA. We rarely think that life, as we know it, is thousands and thousands of codes. …

When we look at the sky, what hazards do we see? Along the Gulf Coast, there is always the threat of hurricanes and tropical storms. Inland there are tornados, hail and thunderstorms. In northern climes, snow, sleet and ice may top the list. Based on some new reports, a new concern may be mi…

There is an old belief that going outside in cold weather with wet hair will cause you to become sick. While being cold and wet is an uncomfortable feeling, there is no evidence that cold exposure causes infections. Contrary to that belief, cold exposure can improve our health in a number of…

Recent headlines have stirred public concern about avian influenza, or bird flu, following a tragic death in Louisiana linked to the H5N1 strain. But what exactly is bird flu, and how serious is the threat to human health?

Pregnancy is known to induce profound changes in women, but it is not just the obvious ones that are important. In a recent study Dr. Elizabeth Chrastil, a neuroscientist and co-author of the scientific paper, underwent regular MRI scanning for three weeks before conceiving, during pregnancy…

Bedwetting is not a serious medical problem but can be a challenging problem for parents and children. It can be upsetting for both children and parents. While it is associated with feelings of shame and embarrassment, it is not uncommon. About 15-20 million children wet the bed at 7 years o…

Recently, a friend posted about his values. He has been on numerous boards and companies, helping to establish their core values. These values are the driving force by which all decisions are made. A search of UTMB’s website shows that its values are compassion, integrity, respect, diversity…

One of the highlights of any visit to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is seeing the massive masterpiece The Night Watch painted by the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn in 1642. A large-scale research and conservation project called Operation Night Watch has revealed some of the toxic ingredient…

For thousands of years before candles, and definitely before television and fast foods, humans have used the long dark days of winter to reflect on their well-being and make plans for the coming period of growth and building for the future. The first known idea of resolutions began with the …

Reindeer receive a lot of attention during the holiday season, thanks to their iconic role as Santa’s sleigh team. But beyond the folklore and festive cheer, these majestic animals are fascinating creatures that play a vital role in ecosystems and Indigenous cultures. While they dazzle us wi…

We see the word “joy” so much this holiday season. What happens to it the rest of the year?

Some of the most vigorous public debates today surround how we as a society deal with a person’s gender and sex. Many people equate gender and sex. This is overly simplistic and does not capture the complexity of this hot-button issue. Recent biomedical research suggests that gender and sex …