Contributor

B. David Zarley

Senior Staff Writer

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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!

How long are you too high to drive? The science is fuzzy.

Some drug driving laws outlaw any amount of THC. To create better laws, researchers are trying to find out how long cannabis intoxication itself lasts.

B. David Zarley

Oxford launches COVID reinfection study

To try and understand the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, including the threat of COVID reinfection, the University of Oxford will purposely infect volunteers.

B. David Zarley

Weekly insulin shots may be “game-changer” for diabetes

Daily insulin injections can be burdensome and stigmatized. New clinical trials suggest a weekly insulin regimen can work just as well.

B. David Zarley

Bat-inspired sound location tech could allow drones to fly solo

Inspired by bat’s ears, researchers at Virginia Tech have created a device capable of pinpointing sound location more accurately than other tech — or our ears.

B. David Zarley

Can CBD be the next superbug slayer?

In the search for new weapons against superbugs, CBD and antibiotics in combination, as well as CBD alone, may prove to be promising candidates.

B. David Zarley

Scientists may have figured out how to fight prion disease

Researchers believe they have found a spot on a mutated prion protein that can lead to brain-spongifying disease.

B. David Zarley

A modified herpes virus can fight brain cancer in children

In a small clinical trial, using herpes viruses modified to only infect tumors — oncolytic virus therapy — more than doubled the life expectancy of children with aggressive brain tumors.

B. David Zarley

How tech helped beat back locust swarms in East Africa

Billions of locusts descended on East Africa in 2020, where new technology helped stop their spread.

B. David Zarley

Phone cameras can now measure your pulse and breathing

A team of researchers has developed an algorithm to measure pulse and respiration rate during a telehealth appointment using your device’s camera.

B. David Zarley

Vaccines

New approach for mRNA HIV vaccine passes first human trial

There is currently no HIV vaccine, but a new technique which produced specific immunity cells in humans may pave the way to one.

B. David Zarley