Health and wellbeing
Cautious health explainers that distinguish a reported finding, a public-health standard and the personal medical decision they cannot make for a reader.
Health information deserves extra care because the distance between an interesting fact and a personal decision can be very short. These pieces explain terms, evidence and public guidance in plain language, while being clear about what needs a clinician who knows the reader's own circumstances.
We do not publish a diagnosis, a treatment plan or a promise. We look for primary medical and public-health sources, separate established evidence from a claim that is still being studied, and keep the limits of a general explainer visible.
Start here
Start here
What Is Semaglutide, and Why Is It Everywhere?
One molecule, three brand names, and a story that starts with a lizard that barely eats. What semaglutide is, and why it is suddenly everywhere.
In this collection
Related read
Does Semaglutide Cause Depression? What the Data Says
The scary 2023 reports sent regulators digging. Three years later, the data points somewhere calmer, and a little stranger.
Related read
Is Ozempic Made From Lizard Venom? Not Exactly
Ozempic is not squeezed out of a lizard. But the whole drug class exists because of one. The real story of the Gila monster's gift.
Main story
What gender-affirming care for kids actually is
The phrase is in every headline this week, usually with no definition attached. Here is what the care is step by step, what is reversible, and why the smallest part of it is the most important.
Related read
Does gender-affirming care help trans kids?
The fight is loud, but the studies are quieter and more hopeful than either side lets on. Here is what two key papers actually found, and what they did not.
Related read
Why pediatricians back gender-affirming care
The guidelines behind this care are older, more cautious, and more consistent than the shouting suggests. Here is who actually recommends what, and where they disagree.