Drugs, cognitive behavioral therapy, and other medical interventions can help individuals relieve the marked emotional, behavioral, and physical changes that occur with premenstrual dysphoric disorder. But to fully support those with PMDD, society needs to address the cultural and social factors involved.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2023/08/31/building-a-better-world-for-people-with-pmdd/

As concern over AI has sharpened, so has scientific interest in the tech’s potential use in environmental monitoring. Scientists in California, for example, have been using AI to help monitor air pollution from coal trains as they pass through urban areas — contributing data to an ongoing dispute.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2023/08/30/ai-train-coal-dust-california/

A fifth of reported heat-related deaths between 2017 and 2022 were agricultural workers, yet only four states have adopted outdoor workplace heat-stress standards. Academics, occupational health specialists, and advocacy groups are calling attention to this underreported impact of climate change.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2023/08/29/farmworkers-face-increasing-heat-waves-with-little-protection/

ECT has been used to treat mental illnesses for nearly 90 years. In that time, it’s had a somewhat torturous reputation, yet many experts in the field today view it as a safe and effective tool to help people who haven’t found relief from other treatments. Why don’t we know more about how it works?

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2023/08/28/ect-electroconvulsive-therapy-mental-illness/

In two new books, “Fragmented” and “We’ve Got You Covered,” a practicing doctor and two economists confront America’s overwhelmed and often chaotic health care system, focusing on the shortcomings of electronic record keeping and the nation’s patchwork approach to providing medical insurance.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2023/08/25/book-review-two-critiques-of-americas-ailing-health-care-system/

Christopher Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer” tells the story of the development of the atomic bomb but makes no mention of physicist Lise Meitner, who co-discovered nuclear fission. But as a woman who refused a position on the Manhattan Project, she would have wanted it that way, argues author Olivia Campbell.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2023/08/24/lauding-lise-meitner-who-said-no-to-the-atomic-bomb/

If MAPS gains FDA approval in the U.S. the organization will have a monopoly on the market, and will aim to build the momentum and political leverage necessary to export MDMA-assisted therapy worldwide. But experts warn that the long-term mission to bring the therapy to war-afflicted regions is fraught.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2023/08/23/can-mdma-therapy-ease-the-worlds-traumas-critics-arent-sure/

Multiple studies show that firefighters, both military and civilian, have been diagnosed with testicular cancer at higher rates than average. But for the first time, a study has found a direct association between a PFAS chemical found in the blood of military personnel and testicular cancer.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2023/08/22/federal-study-links-testicular-cancer-to-forever-chemicals/

The U.S. is set to ramp up offshore wind capacity, but scientists still don’t fully understand the potential impacts that thousands of new turbines will have. They stress, though, that they don’t want to derail offshore wind, only to better understand what changes — both positive and negative — to expect.

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2023/08/21/as-offshore-wind-ramps-up-scientists-flag-potential-impacts/

Understanding and confronting the epidemic of gun violence as a public health crisis is “not a fight about finding fault,” argues David Hemenway, a health policy professor at Harvard. “It’s not about finding who did something wrong. It’s about trying to figure out ways to prevent the problem from occurring.”

via Undark Magazine https://undark.org/2023/08/18/interview-treating-gun-violence-as-a-public-health-crisis/