Humanity Got High After The Fall

Some of the most recent studies included in the database suggest that the herb entered the archaeological record of Japan and Eastern Europe at almost exactly the same time, between about 11,500 and 10,200 years ago.

23andMe Selling Customer's Genetic Data

It's just possible that 23andMe has not been collecting the DNA of 800,000 customers for altruistic genealogical purposes.

Medical Marijuana Used As Medicine

The use of prescription drugs in states with medical cannabis laws has gone down across the board.  It's estimated that if every state legalised cannabis, Medicare would save more than $468 million US on pharmaceuticals.  It's possible there would even be savings if they began to cover this so-called "medicine" that many are now taking in lieu of expensive, toxic, patented and FDA-approved drugs.

Weed Good For Old Minds

A trial of medical cannabis oil on people with symptoms of dementia has shown a significant reduction in delusional and apathetic behaviour, improbably enough.

Study Shows Nature Heals Trauma

Man creates War.  War creates Trauma.  Nature offers plants, fungi, forests, and rivers for healing the wounded soul of Man.  Man outlaws Nature.

Soft and Hard Targets of Scepticism

When people like this get together, they become tribal. They pat each other on the back and tell each other how smart they are compared to those outside the tribe. But belonging to a tribe often makes you dumber.

Cover-Up Covered Up

Robert De Niro has withdrawn the documentary "Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe" from the Tribeca Film Festival.  De Niro had previously championed the film's right to contribute to a public discussion.  After consulting with members of "the scientific community," De Niro had an "awakening," and now shares their "concern with certain things in this film."

The filmmakers, who were not asked to respond to claims against their documentary, issued their own statement, with some business about free speech, art, and truth.

Nixon Disliked Blacks, Hippies

Feminists, liberals, libertarians and more are dreadfully upset and surprised that the war on drugs has never been about drugs.

NIH-funded trials dip, industry trials on the rise

The pharmaceutical industry tests its own products, while the NIH funds tests of treatment approaches, including lifestyle interventions or drug comparisons, which industry tends not to fund because they do not lead to an increase in their bottom line.

Flesh-eating skin disease grips ISIS-controlled areas in Syria

“As a result of abominable acts by ISIS that included the killing of innocent people and dumping their corpses in streets, this is the leading factor behind the rapid spread of Leishmanisis disease,” Dilqash Isa, the head of the Kurdish Red Crescent told the Kurdish Rudaw news.

Seeing Green: The Importance of Nature for Our Health

World Health Organization projections indicate that in fewer than 20 years, 75 percent of the world’s population will live in urban settings, compared with the current distribution of about 54 percent city dwellers. The potential ability of a single factor — time in nature — to counteract a cascade of stress hormones will have enormous implications for us and future generations.

Mammograms Increase Risk of Breast Cancer

In 1982, the FDA approved thermography for breast cancer screening, yet most of the medical establishment is either unaware of it or still associates it with its early false start. Since most women are also uninformed of the technology there is no pressure on the medical community to support it.

Are Good Doctors Bad for Your Health?

It is surprising how uncomfortable some physicians get when you ask these questions. No one likes to be second-guessed or have to justify their decisions. But studies show that when patients are systematically given information about benefits and risks they tend to consent to fewer interventions and feel more informed about their decisions.

WHO Soon To Classify Aging As A Disease

Doctors are usually the most inclined to consider states of being as diseases. Laypeople are the least inclined, and nurses and legislators are in between. The willingness to pay for treatment from public funds is very strongly correlated with the perception of disease.

Internet Trolls Attack Anyone Resisting Vaccine Party Line

But rather than take umbrage, those at whom such vitriol is aimed should feel comforted by Socrates’ memorable adage, “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.”

White middle-aged people in US dying quicker than in any other developed nation

In some sort of nightmarish fashion, organ damage was combined with rising depression, inability to relate to others and various other forms of pain – bringing with them often an inability to work. The authors even found a strict rising correlation between the number of people reporting mental illness and the number reporting that they had difficulty in socializing with others.

Psychiatric Imperialism: Exporting Western Mental Disorders

"Looking at ourselves through the eyes of those living in places where human tragedy is still embedded in complex religious and cultural narratives, we get a glimpse of our modern selves as a deeply insecure and fearful people. We are investing our great wealth in researching and treating this disorder because we have rather suddenly lost other belief systems that once gave meaning and context to our suffering."

Antidepressants Scientifically Linked to Violent Behavior in Youth

Most of the age groups did not show an increase in crime and violence, however, the 15-24 year-old group showed a 43 percent increase in their risk of committing violent crime while on SSRIs. The researchers also observed an increased risk for younger people to be involved in violent arrests, non-violent convictions and arrests, non-fatal injuries, and alcohol problems when they were taking antidepressants. The results also showed those who took lower doses had an increased risk of being violent.

The "Institutional Corruption" of Psychiatry

"Again, this is part of the 'institutional corruption' lens we were using to study the institution of psychiatry and its behavior. The assumption is that individuals within the institution can't see that their behavior has been corrupted by 'economies of influence.' And so, when those outside the institution begin pointing out the corruption in it, those within it may construct a narrative that protects their self-image. In this case, psychiatrists need to protect their image as honest researchers and as physicians who put the interests of their patients first. Cognitive dissonance theory reveals that there are a myriad of ways that people protect themselves in this manner."

The Mainstream Media is Junk Food For Your Brain

"It’s a lot like when you know you should eat a salad instead of that enticing doughnut, but you choose the doughnut instead because it’s oh-so-good in the moment. When the less intelligent segments of society are presented with the real facts or even just told to investigate an issue on their own (the salad), they often react with confusion or fury, choosing instead to accept whatever the mainstream media is telling them to say or think (the doughnut)."