Artificial intelligence can accurately detect heart murmurs in dogs, a new study finds. The AI program detects heart murmurs in canines with 90% accuracy, similar to the accuracy of expert cardiologists, researchers report. And in more than half the cases tested, the AI completely agreed with a cardiologist’s assessment of the murmur’s seriousness. These heart…  read on >  read on >

Smoking marijuana during pregnancy may quell your morning sickness, but it could also harm your child’s development, a new study warns. Cannabis exposure in the womb is associated in early childhood with poorer thinking skills, researchers reported Oct. 28 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. These kids also have behavioral problems like impulse control, poor attention…  read on >  read on >

More than 20% of people in the continental United States might have drinking water contaminated with “forever chemicals,” a new study suggests. Between 75 and 95 million Americans rely on groundwater that contains detectible concentrations of these chemicals, known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated in the Oct. 24…  read on >  read on >

Hospice care is a compassionate and heartfelt enterprise, involving a medical team dedicated to maintaining a person’s comfort and dignity as they face the final curtain. Now, new research shows hospice is also incredibly cost-effective as a health care service, a new report says. For-profit hospice providers generate substantial savings for Medicare, according to a…  read on >  read on >