The time children and teens spend video gaming, scrolling through social media or watching TV could be putting their future heart health at risk, a new study says. Each additional hour of screen time is associated with an increase in heart risk factors like blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, researchers reported today in…  read on >  read on >

THURSDAY, July 31, 2025 (HeathDay News) — Scientists say the average person may be inhaling microscopic, lung-penetrating plastic particles at a rate that’s 100 times what was previously assumed: 68,000 per day.  “Everywhere we look, we find microplastics, even in the air we breathe inside our homes and cars,” said the French team who conducted…  read on >  read on >

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking to remove the legal underpinning for most regulations against climate change. If approved, the EPA’s proposal would rescind the 2009 decision that set forth a legal basis to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants. Known as the “endangerment finding,” it allowed the EPA to limit emissions from vehicles,…  read on >  read on >

 It’s official: The controversial preservative thimerosal will be stripped from all flu vaccines distributed in the United States. U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. signed off on the recommendation from an expert panel that recommended removing the mercury-based preservative from all influenza vaccines. Use of thimerosal had been largely phased out in the U.S. by…  read on >  read on >

Veterans who receive traumatic brain injuries in combat often experience crippling post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, leaving them hopeless and potentially suicidal. But help might be on the way from an unlikely source – a psychedelic drug called ibogaine. The drug, derived from the roots of an African shrub called iboga, can safely and…  read on >  read on >

Urgent care clinics are handing out fistfuls of antibiotics, steroids and opioids for conditions these drugs won’t help, a new study says. “Previous studies had shown that patients continue to receive antibiotics for diagnoses where they may not be indicated, such as for a viral respiratory infection, especially in urgent care settings,” said co-lead researcher…  read on >  read on >