How Drugs Work

Apple has an excellent reputation for its privacy and security policies. That said, it isn't a perfect reputation. Take Siri, for example. The helpful iOS assistant isn't just communicating with you — Apple saves and listens to a history of your Siri interactions. If you don't ...more

If you ever run out of shaving cream in the morning, just step over from your bathroom to the kitchen and use olive oil as a substitute. Not only does it save you a future trip to the drug store, it also helps moisturize your skin. Commonly used in the kitchen for cooking or ...more

On June 11, 2016, an Arizona woman died from what appeared to be several infections, including pneumonia. She likely caught at least one of these from her dog. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were involved in the investigation into events leading up to he ...more

No one ever wants to experience pain, whether it's as small as a stubbed toe or as great as recovering from surgery. Yet so much of our lives causes pain, lasting or brief in its form. With a few mental tricks and unusual home remedies, you can relieve some of the most common ...more

Most of us have already had an encounter with the Epstein-Barr virus, or EBV, for short. As part of the herpes family, it's one of the most common disease-causing viruses in humans. We get the disease with (or without) some nasty symptoms, then we recover. However, EBV stays i ...more

If you made a resolution for 2020 to get healthier, it's essential to concentrate on your mental health just as much as you do on physical fitness. Running and exercising is great, but a sound mind is integral to a healthy and balanced life, and you can improve your emotional ...more

As government officials scramble to contain the new coronavirus outbreak with bans on large gatherings, travel restrictions, and school closures, the rest of us have to worry about how we're going to safely purchase water, toilet paper, groceries, and other household goods dur ...more

As a non-cat owner, catnip is a mystery to me. So, people essentially... drug... their cats? Weird. Google catnip, and you will find a whole slew of incredible images related to the topic... ...not to mention this YouTube smash hit: If you're interested in getting your cat c ...more

Reddit user smellslikeurine is seeking advice for a "friend of a friend" who recently pulled a clever prank on an evil bully, and may now be legally liable: "A relative of a close friend (we'll call him Todd) carried Mountain Dew in his backpack to school every day. For a few ...more

From Boing Boing, a highly amusing photo gallery of illegal goods seized by airport customs officials in Australia. Some are fairly typical, but others really make you wonder... Yes, I'm most definitely talking about the tropical fish skirt lady. Mr. Potatohead filled with 293 ...more

We're officially seeking Null Byters on a weekly basis who are willing to take the time to educate the community. Contributors will write tutorials, which will be featured on the Null Byte blog, as well as the front page of WonderHowTo (IF up to par, of course). There is no ne ...more

Our canine best friends could spread our bacterial worst nightmare, according to a recent study. The problem with drug-resistant bacteria is well known. Overused, poorly used, and naturally adaptive bacteria clearly have us outnumbered. As science drives hard to find alternat ...more

It's not uncommon to find a good mod these days, for any given game. But as I have mentioned before, Skyrim is not just a game. It's a drug... A horribly entertaining drug.. Which leaves you in withdrawal stage as soon as you turn away for a few minutes (e.g. may cause confus ...more

As drug-resistant bacteria become more commonplace, researchers are looking for new antibacterial strategies to disrupt disease-causing microbes. Some scientists are working to create new drugs, while others are trying out drug combinations. Another group, however, are ditchin ...more

Your iPhone's Health app has a new medications hub that can be a one-stop destination for all the medicine, vitamins, and supplements you're taking. Adding new entries is easy and well worth the effort to get reminders to take your meds, learn about drug interactions, easily s ...more

Somewhere around 600–800 million people in the world are infected with whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), an infection they got from ingesting soil or water contaminated with feces of infected animals or people containing the parasite's eggs. Currently, treatment options are lim ...more

Although their effectiveness is waning, antibiotics remain a front-line defense against many infections. However, new science reveals using the wrong antibiotic for an infection could makes things much worse. It is common knowledge that overuse of antibiotics has led to the g ...more

Despite legends to the contrary, it appears that the saliva of a Komodo dragon is not teeming with pathogenic bacteria that kills their prey. Its reputation to survive while colonized with lots of horrible disease-causing bacteria, true or untrue, has made it the subject of re ...more

Every party has a pooper, and that's why you're reading this article. We don't mean to be a downer on such a fun day as 4/20, but it's important to make sure you know about the source of your pot, especially if you're one of the 2,299,016 people who use medical marijuana in th ...more

A new study has found that up to half of people who think they have a penicillin "allergy" can still receive the drug, and other antibiotics with similar structures, without any negative reactions to the meds. Why? Because they're not really allergic, doctors say. In truly pe ...more

While Microsoft dominated the augmented reality news at this year's Mobile World Congress, a small AR startup we've covered in the past arrived in Barcelona, Spain, to unveil the next phase of its mission. This week, China-based Nreal made the potential mass adoption of its N ...more

Just like cash, bitcoin is used for everything from regular day-to-day business to criminal activities. However, unlike physical cash, the blockchain is permanent and immutable, which means anyone from a teen to the US government can follow every single transaction you make wi ...more

Pokémon GO, the global augmented reality game that's brought fans out of their homes to catch Pokémon across the planet, has brought about plenty of real-world positives. Unfortunately, when players get power hungry and start taking game hacks too far, we all get a little scre ...more

Most people know atopic dermatitis by its common name, eczema—that dry, flaky skin that itches incessantly. Along with the scratching comes frequent skin infections, often with Staphylococcus aureus. S. aureus skin infections can look like pimples, boils, or red, swollen, and ...more

It won't come as a surprise to hear that your cell phone, tablet, and laptop are loaded with bacteria and other organic material. While most of these bacteria are harmless, there are good reasons to reduce the capability of your mobile devices to infect you—or other people. H ...more

Wherever there are people, the party is sure to follow. Well, a party of microbes, at least. That is what scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have found after a 30-day microbial observation of the inflatable lunar/Mars analog habitat (IMAH). What is an "analog habi ...more

Hospitals are places we go to get well, and we don't expect to get sick or sicker there. But a study from researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and Cleveland VA Medical Center in Ohio found that hospital floors in patient room ...more

Black Mirror, Netflix's technology-horror anthology, never fails to provide thought-provoking entertainment centered around emerging and futuristic technologies, and the third season's second episode, "Playtest," delves deep into the worlds of mixed, augmented, and virtual rea ...more

Do not ever laugh or shrug off what medical bottles or boxes give you as side effects or warnings. All of the side effects and warnings are put on the medication for a purpose. Priapism is a topic we all laugh or giggle about but it is a very serious emergency problem. Warnin ...more

A new study confirms that antibiotics can prevent surgical intervention if your child's appendix becomes inflamed, potentially saving his or her life. Attached to the large intestine, the appendix is a finger-shaped organ about three to four inches in length. When inflamed by ...more

We already know that Samsung's Galaxy S7 is one of the most versatile smartphones ever made, complete with edge-to-edge displays, water resistance, and a huge battery. But what's versatility without durability? How much punishment can the Galaxy S7 take? Let's play a game of S ...more

Autism affects 1 in 68 children in the US, and that means it affects at least 1 in every 68 families. More boys than girls are diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, and it's estimated that almost 60,000 12-year-olds in the US have autism. That is a 37-fold increase from t ...more

Hi OLers read the following article to gain some great insight into the mischevious advertising ways of food labels. Thanks to the New York Times for this great article below. Happy Eating6 Meaningless Claims on Food LabelsAlthough food labels are supposed to tell us exactly w ...more

Andre was enjoying the carefree life of a 12-year-old with his friends, riding his bike and playing sports, like all kids that age. Schoolwork wasn't hard for him, and his grades showed that. Then, the headaches began. He lost vision in one eye, symptoms that drove his famil ...more

We've all done it. You're sick. You don't want to go to the doctor so you just Google it. Soon, you've perused dozens of websites with conflicting information, you're no better informed than when you started, and your confusion makes you feel worse about your predicament. Woul ...more

Mystery is a tricky thing. Used correctly, it can give onlookers the impression that wondrous and perhaps valuable things are afoot. However, once the veil of suspension of disbelief is removed in any significant way, that same mystery can quickly turn into not just skepticism ...more

Mobile devices can do just about anything these days, thanks to third-party developers. iPhones and Android devices have been known to do some pretty wild things. Need a dupe key made? Scan and order one with your iPhone. Want to know if you're hotter than Justin Bieber? Compa ...more

You may not have heard of visceral leishmaniasis, onchocerciasis, or lymphatic filariasis, and there is a reason for that. These diseases, part of a group of infections called neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), impact more than a billion people on the planet in countries othe ...more

Transmitted by a sandfly one-third the size of a mosquito, parasitic Leishmania protozoa are responsible for a flesh-destroying disease that kills an estimated 20,000 people per year. Two new studies offer understanding of how the parasite provides immunity through persistence ...more

Having a Clostridium difficile infection means stomach pains, diarrhea, fever, and loss of appetite, and if the symptoms weren't bad enough, the disease often reoccurs. Now, new research has found an increased risk of recurrence in people who take medication to treat their sto ...more

A deadly type of brain tumor and Zika-related brain damage in developing fetuses are devastating brain conditions that, at first glance, may seem unrelated. However, thanks to new research, their paths seem to cross in a way that could benefit patients. A new study has shown t ...more

Pokémon GO made waves as the first augmented reality game to gain popular adoption. In fact, it was so popular that it only took a few days to uncover some the benefits and serious issues with combining physical and digital worlds. The Good The game always aimed to get playe ...more

Joe McKenna died when he was 30 years old. A young married man with his future ahead of him, he was cleaning up the station where he worked as a fireman. Struck by a piece of equipment fallen from a shelf, Joe complained of a sore shoulder. Over the next week, Joe worsened and ...more

Whether or not a microbe is successful at establishing an infection depends both on the microbe and the host. Scientists from Duke found that a single DNA change can allow Salmonella typhi, the bacteria that causes typhoid fever, to invade cells. That single genetic variation ...more

While some researchers look for drugs to treat HIV, other scientists delve deep into the virus itself for answers on how it causes infections. Using two supercomputers, University of Illinois research scientist Juan R. Perilla and late physics professor Klaus Schulten simulat ...more