Worldcrunch
In the era of tight scheduling — from work appointments to romantic dates to pictures to upload on social media — true satisfaction lies in the magic of the unexpected, sexually speaking. A quickie is actually a chemical and mental balance problem solver, and here’s why.
Recent studies reveal strong links between air pollution and deposits in the brain, even in areas with low pollution levels. Inflammation plays a key role in this process.
Birkenstock shoes are more popular than ever, selling some 30 million pairs in 2023. The German brand, founded in 1897, and others — from Dr. Scholl’s wooden sandals to barefoot shoes by Leguano, Joe Nimble or Vivobarefoot — have an aura of being healthy and good for your feet. But does the science support this clog craze?
Although HIV infections are on the rise in Tunisia, only 25% of people living with the virus are receiving treatment. Access to care remains limited due to societal norms that stifle discussions around sexual health and structural deficiencies in the healthcare system, thereby fueling a preventable epidemic.
One-third of young Polish women don’t go to the gynecologist from fear of being judged. Catholic Polish doctors often refuse to prescribe birth control, openly make references to their religion, make judgmental remarks about their patients, and, in the worst cases, deny women life-saving care because of Poland’s draconian abortion laws.
Insects like ants heal their fellow species, and they even perform surgeries. Biologist Erik Frank is researching their methods. He believes that humans can also benefit from them.
Nick Littlehales was Cristiano Ronaldo’s sleep coach. Now he looks at a Die Zeit journalist’s sleepless nights through cycles and diagrams, returning to a central paradoxical conviction.
Motivate them or leave them alone? Be honest or say nothing? It is not easy to deal well with depressed people. But psychology professionals say that those closest can often help even more than trained experts. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Here’s how to help…
In the workplace, we found out that standing desks weren’t much better than sitting. Is a walking pad the healthiest solution for maximizing life and work? Stimulating creativity and productivity? Our author tested it for 30 days in the office
A new blood test, designed to detect more than 50 types of cancer, could be the future of early cancer detection. Is it the next big thing, or just another marketing gimmick?
Lecanemab, marketed as Leqembi, is the first drug targeting the root cause of Alzheimer’s disease to be approved by the European Medicines Agency. Despite its side effects and limited efficacy, it finally offers a glimmer of hope for effective therapies.
The World Health Organization estimates that mental disorders impact one in four people worldwide. To help respond to mental health issues, a first aid training program was created in Australia in the early 2000s and has become available in France over the past five years.
October 28 – November 3, 2024
Millions of people could die from antibiotic-resistant germs in the near future. But there are very few new antibiotics in the research pipelines of the big pharmaceutical companies, which are focused on developing more profitable drugs. What is behind this blatant injustice — and what can be done about it?
Many people want to sleep better, but available solutions either have little effect or severe side effects. Ultimately, there’s really only one approach that seems to work.
Robust winter babies? Allergic autumn infants? Researchers are finding increasing evidence that the month and season of birth can have an influence on our health. For Die Zeit, health editor Andrea Böhnke explores how light, weather, mother’s diet and other factors linked to the time of the year we are born shape us throughout our lives.
The numbers are troubling but also still unclear. Are more people dying in the quest for cheaper medical services — often plastic surgery — that Turkey has become a magnet for. It’s time to check more closely.
Increasingly extreme temperatures are forcing summertime cultural events and festivals, from concerts to Spain’s traditional castell human towers, to adapt to a new climate reality.
The smallest country in Africa, Gambia is a net importer of plastics. About 84% of this waste is not managed properly, with dire consequences for the people and the environment.
Maria Branyas Morera, the world’s oldest person who has just passed away at age 117, once talked about the importance of socializing in old age. Even if the aging and elderly tend to wind up confined to family circles, studies have shown the often untapped benefits of friendship in our later years.
For years, evidence has grown that school body-mass index screenings aren’t helpful and can even be harmful. Why do they persist?
The mining industry is a vital part of Mongolia’s economy. But people living near one of the country’s largest copper mines say their health is suffering, and scientists and doctors are sounding the alarm.
Erasing the practice of midwifery through legislation seems impossible, yet fear persists in Mexico, which counts at least 16,000 midwives, trusted by thousands of women every year, especially peasant and indigenous women.
Even as technology could offer solutions to surviving as our planet gets warmer, humans themselves are innately adaptable creatures — and extreme heat could change our genes.
A better understanding of the placenta may help curb maternal and fetal mortality rates, but progress is slow.
Instead of investing in wiping out zoonotic diseases, we should focus on better ways to fortify ourselves against them.
Even more so than laughter, smiling is the human trait par excellence. It’s a real language — but can we learn to understand it? Or to cultivate it? The rewards could be high, and not just to boost morale: Smiling could increase life expectancy.
Light pollution in Chile’s Atacama Desert, home to crucial star-gazing infrastructure, is threatening the future of astronomy. Can a new nationwide lighting standard make a difference?
April 29 – May 5, 2024
The debate over the potential dangers of energy drinks, especially for young people, was revived recently in Spain, following a teenager’s death in Madrid and the Galicia region’s ban on sales to minors.
A patient runs into our Naples-based psychiatrist and has a few questions about his/her identity.
Faced with the challenges of population growth and climate change, the development of new technologies such as precision fermentation or cultured meat are paving the way to an era of new food.
The unlicensed workers use what they have to combat health fears in Uganda’s top salt-producing lake. A new law is supposed to offer protections. So far, little is on the way.
The industrial revolution, which was also agricultural, allowed humanity to escape the “nutritional trap.” Now, agriculture is facing new challenges: income and ecological traps.
Long hidden and even seen as shameful, menopause is finally making its way into the public sphere in France, and elsewhere. Celebrities, journalists and sociologists are now talking about it openly, and brands are offering solutions to help reimagine what this physical and psychological change means to some women.
Costly treatments, no appointment available, “dental deserts,” minority discrimination, mass exodus from the workforce… While UK dentists warn that so-called dental tourism is dangerous, the crisis in NHS dentistry is forcing more and more British patients to travel to brand new clinics in Turkey — not for cosmetic procedures, but basic treatment. In Turkey, medical tourism is booming more than ever.
Something is awry with daylight savings time. Can research and policy changes help us reset the clocks?
French researchers have recovered a pair of viruses that were long frozen below the Siberian tundra. In this case, the microorganisms are harmless, but others may not be.
Injuries are on the rise in the United States’ NBA, but also in sports in general. Now a growing body of scientific research is studying new approaches to improve player safety.
Going to the bathroom, one of the most basic human needs, has become extremely difficult to address in Gaza, as hundreds of thousands of people are left without the proper infrastructure, and streets are sometimes flooded with wastewater.