Category: Science and Health

We’ve discussed husbands and fiances, so it probably shouldn’t be a complete surprise that today’s daf opens with a mishnah that presents three opinions about whether a yavam (a man whose married brother died childless and who is therefore obligated to marry his widowed sister-in-law) can nullify his yevama’s vows before their levirate marriage is […]

Yesterday, the Talmud raised the possibility of a man nullifying his wife’s vows even without hearing them. Today, the rabbis take this idea to the next step. Rami bar Hama asks: A man who cannot hear, what is the halakhah with regard to nullifying vows for his wife?  Perhaps, if a man does not need to hear his wife’s vow […]

Treatment for combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which affects hundreds of thousands of American military personnel, thousands of Israel Defense Forces veterans and terrorist attack victims can be both fast and effective for a majority of patients.  A new study at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health) showed clinically […]

Cancer cells are scary and an enemy to good health, but US researchers have found a way to make them friendly as potent, anti-cancer agents. In the latest study on lab rodents by Dr. Khalid Shah at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts, the investigators have developed a new cell therapy approach, creating a vaccine […]

In one of the first long-term studies on adolescent neural development and technology use, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that adolescents’ brains could become more sensitive when anticipating social rewards and punishments over time with increased usage of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and other social media. The study was […]

“May God make you like Ephraim and Menashe” (Genesis 48:20). Parents routinely offer this blessing on Shabbat at the Friday night dinner table and its dramatic origins are found in this week’s Torah portion, Vayechi. The scene: Jacob summons his favorite son Joseph so he can bless him before he dies. Joseph arrives with his two sons, Menashe, the firstborn, and Ephraim, […]

Genital injuries can be incredibly painful and difficult to fix for men, but scientists may have figured out a way to do so, including making sure it can still maintain erections and function normally, according to a new study. The findings of this study were published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Matter. The study itself […]

Global health officials tried to determine the facts of China’s raging COVID-19 outbreak and how to prevent a further spread as the government’s mouthpiece newspaper on Wednesday rallied citizens for a “final victory” over the virus. China’s axing of its stringent virus curbs last month has unleashed COVID on a 1.4 billion population that has […]

There are plants in Hawaii that are endangered because their natural pollinator is rare or extinct. People climb mountains and go from plant to plant pollinating them by hand. In certain periods of our history, an analogous process occurred. Scholars became rare in certain cities. Other scholars, the natural pollinators, would travel from community to community, bringing learning […]

More than 3,000 US children aged five and under accidentally ingested cannabis edibles in 2021 – an increase of 1,375% from 2017, when there were just over 200 such cases– according to a US National Poison Data System study released Tuesday. The study, published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed pediatric research journal Pediatrics and based on […]