Contributor

B. David Zarley

Senior Staff Writer

Contact

[email protected]

B. David Zarley is a senior staff writer for Freethink, where he covers health and medicine, including infectious disease, psychedelic research, mental health, and the brain. A graduate of SUNY Fredonia, his work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The Verge, Jezebel, Frieze, Sports Illustrated, VICE, Paste Magazine, and numerous other publications. He lives in Chicago and can be reached via Signal by request. Send him story ideas!

Genetics

A Spanish teen’s genome may hold the secret to lupus

Researchers believe they have found a single point mutation in an infection-sensing gene that causes the autoimmune disorder.

B. David Zarley

This company wants you to live forever in their metaverse

Metaverse company Somnium Space wants to create digital versions of you to live on after you pass, the newest example of digitized death-defying.

B. David Zarley

Public Health

Surprise in death data: Malaria has a U-shaped death curve

Better death records can reveal surprises about common killers like malaria — and help save lives.

B. David Zarley

Rebreather dives are wildly risky. But this might save lives.

Duke researchers have developed an early warning system for rebreather divers at risk of hypoxia.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

RNA breakthrough offers a potential heart attack cure

King’s College London researchers have used RNA to regenerate cardiac tissue in pig hearts, what they hope is the first step towards a heart attack cure.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

Researchers want to fight cancer — by mutating it even more

Sloan Kettering researchers have proposed a controversial way to improve immunotherapy: making cancer cells mutate on purpose.

B. David Zarley

Cars

Chevrolet is electrifying the Corvette

GM has announced plans to bring the Corvette roaring into the electric vehicle market.

B. David Zarley

Coronavirus

WeChat users try to keep Shanghai lockdown protest video ahead of censors

WeChat users have turned to all manner of tricks in a cat-and-mouse game with CCP censors to keep a video about the Shanghai lockdown online.

B. David Zarley

Climate Crisis

Bioluminescent bacteria will soon light up this French street

French commune Rambouillet is serving as a testing ground for the soft glow of bioluminescent bacteria on the street.

B. David Zarley

Outer Space

Europa’s icy shell may harbor habitable pockets

Using radar data from our own world, Stanford researchers have proposed a new place to look for life on Jupiter’s icy moon.

B. David Zarley