Medical Insights

We’ve assumed for months that Adele’s new album would take our breath away, but as of this week, our ears can finally confirm its Adele-level quality. Similarly, we’ve assumed consuming zinc could help fight a respiratory infection, but we now have published data to substantiate that claim.

As if we needed another reason to avoid fast food, preliminary research suggests that traces of plastic in fast-food products are as ubiquitous as that feeling of regret 30 minutes later.

We enjoy a hearty debate. Did Tony Soprano die in the finale? Could Ferris Bueller really have completed all those activities before dinner? Can a patient with obesity still be in good health?

Two researchers say most likely to that last one. They combed through a mountain of literature on dieting, exercising, and mortality and examined >200 meta-analyses and single studies. That’s enough data to make Steve Kornacki don his khakis and election-night game-face.

This was a great week. First, we learned that William Shatner—Capt. Kirk himself—is heading into outer space, boldly going where no 90-year-old has gone before. Then, we heard the news that an effective treatment for COVID-19—in pill form—may be headed our way.

You tell your patients to drink more water, but consuming this colorless, odorless, tasteless beverage is a chore for many. However, just like when trying to get a two-year-old to take a bath, adding bubbles makes everything more palatable. But is unsweetened carbonated water as beneficial as still water?

Remember when we were sure that “ironic” referred to “something that is the opposite of its literal meaning,” and then in 1996 Alanis Morissette taught us that it just meant “misfortune”? Well, we now have to second guess what we thought we knew about energy expenditure in the human lifecycle as well. But unlike Alanis’ lyrics, this new information is backed by data.