The Weight Game: How Body-Size Bias Can Hold Back Health Science

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November 18, 2021

Diet

The Weight Game: How Body-Size Bias Can Hold Back Health Science

For decades, assumptions about weight have clouded our view of health

By Kelso Harper

Reproduction

California Plans for a Post-Roe World as Abortion Access Shrinks Elsewhere

Abortion providers are preparing for a surge in demand from other states if the Supreme Court overturns the landmark ruling

By Rachel Bluth,Kaiser Health News

Climate Change

Watch These 5 Key Issues in 2022 to See if COP26 Climate Promises Are Kept

Increasing financial commitments and strenghtening emissions reduction targets are crucial steps

By Rachel Kyte,The Conversation US

Inequality

Lost Women of Science, Episode 3: The Case of the Missing Portrait

A missing portrait of physician and pathologist Dorothy Andersen takes us on a journey into the perils of memorialization—and who gets to be remembered. Pediatric intensivist Scott Baird hunts for the portrait, and psychiatry resident Nientara Anderson and emergency medicine resident Lizzy Fitzsousa, both former medical students at Yale University, explain how, in today's diverse communities, "dude walls" can have an insidious effect on those who walk past them every day

By Katie Hafner,The Lost Women of Science Initiative

Animals

Mystery of Doomed Sardine Migration Is Finally Solved

Pulses of cold seawater mislead millions of sardines into swimming along the South African coast to their death

By Nikk Ogasa

Cancer

The Colon Cancer Conundrum

Colorectal cancer rates in younger adults are climbing. The race is on to figure out why

By Cassandra Willyard

Cancer

The COVID Cancer Effect

Oncologists are grappling with predicting—and mitigating—the effects of the pandemic

By Usha Lee McFarling

Water

'Portable Oasis' Extracts Water from Dry Desert Air

An ultraporous humidity sponge could provide 300 gallons of fresh water a day

By Steven Ashley

Astronomy

Scientists Plan Private Mission to Hunt for Earths around Alpha Centauri

A privately funded telescope called Toliman will seek habitable worlds in our nearest neighboring star system, potentially sparking a new wave of exoplanetary exploration

By Jonathan O'Callaghan

Conservation

Great Apes' Biggest Threat Is Human Activity, Not Habitat Loss

An assessment of chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos reveals that our economic "footprint" is the primary driver of great apes' fate

By Rachel Nuwer

Archaeology

Mysteries of Ancient Egypt's Sacred Baboons Revealed

Studies of living and mummified baboons hint at why ancient Egyptians revered these pesky primates and uncover the probable location of the fabled kingdom from which they imported the animals

By Nathaniel J. Dominy
FROM THE STORE

Existence and Other Questions: Selected Works of John Horgan

Does free will exist? Is the Schrödinger Equation True? How does matter make a mind? In his Scientific American column, John Horgan takes a scientific approach to exploring mysteries such as these, and in this eBook, we collect some of his most thought-provoking work on consciousness, quantum mechanics, the science of psychedelic drugs and more.

Buy Now

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FROM THE ARCHIVE

In Obesity Research, Fatphobia Is Always the X Factor

Contrary to what you've undoubtedly been told, you can be fat and fit at the same time

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"The whole area of body weight and obesity has become very, very difficult to study objectively. There's so much emotion, so many interests that are involved."

Katherine Flegal, epidemiologist

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