‘Cyberchondria’: 40% of Americans have misdiagnosed themselves online

A new survey highlights the side effects of using Google to self-diagnose.

  • A new survey of Americans suggests that online self-diagnosing often leads to stress and unreliable information.
  • 40% of respondents said they had received inaccurate diagnoses online.
  • Still, symptom-checkers can be useful, especially for determining when to go to the hospital.
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Charles Koch Foundation
Charles Koch Foundation

How does academic freedom change society for good?

Even the most controversial research conducted by scholars can impact cultures and drive progress.

Videos
  • Academic freedom is, at the same time, absolutely critical and underappreciated.
  • This protection drives innovation and progress, but do we take it for granted? Scholars' ability to conduct controversial research impacts culture and society in a positive way.
  • The opinions expressed in this video do not necessarily reflect the views of the Charles Koch Foundation, which encourages the expression of diverse viewpoints within a culture of civil discourse and mutual respect.
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The world now has an Ebola vaccine, in historic EU approval

The vaccine is 97.5% effective in protecting against the Zaire species of Ebola, according to the World Health Organization.

  • The European Medicines Agency granted special approval for an Ebola vaccine called Ervebo.
  • Ervebo has proven remarkably effective in clinical trials conducted in Africa.
  • An Ebola outbreak has killed more than 2,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo since August 2018.
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Who is a non-human person?

An orangutan has settled into a Florida home after a court granted her personhood rights. But what is the basis for personhood?

  • An orangutan named Sandra was granted non-human personhood rights in 2015 and has been moved from the Buenos Aires Zoo to a home in Florida.
  • Legal personhood is not synonymous with human being. A "non-human person" refers to an entity that possesses some rights for limited legal purposes.
  • Sentience might be the characteristic necessary for granting legal rights to non-human species.
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Heart attacks and canker sores: why we need to take oral health seriously

Your microbiome begins in your mouth. Why don't we look there more often?

Photo by Carl D. Walsh/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
Surprising Science
  • Eighty percent of patients who've had heart attacks have gum disease, says Dr. Shahrzad Fattahi.
  • Oral health is also implicated in forms of cancer, dementia, canker sores, and more.
  • Fattahi says the future of medicine must also focus on saliva, as a whole new field of salivary diagnostics is emerging.
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The perks of being a bit neurotic

It's one of our five major personality traits, and arguably, it's the worst one. Why are some human beings neurotic?

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Surprising Science
  • Scoring high in neuroticism is associated with a slew of negative outcomes for your physical and mental health.
  • However, it appears to be an inherited trait, one that has persisted through the many thousands of years of human evolution.
  • Some researchers argue that in the environment where humans first evolved, being a little neurotic may have been highly beneficial.
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WATCH: Dinosaurs traveled other parts of Milky Way than humans

Dinosaurs never left Earth, but they still traveled millions of miles through the Milky Way galaxy.

Dr. Jessie Christiansen
Surprising Science
  • A new video shows how life has evolved on Earth during the planet's most recent revolution around the Milky Way, also known as one galactic year.
  • A galactic year is about 220 million years, and it was the beginning of the Jurassic period the last time Earth was at this point in its revolution.
  • How will Earth look on its next galactic birthday? It's impossible to know for sure, but a few events seem inevitable.
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