Contributor

B. David Zarley

Senior Staff Writer

Contact

b.david@freethink.com

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!

Virology

How herpes hides

Herpesvirus hides in nerve cells, making it impossible to kill. Now, Northwestern researchers believe they have found the novel key to this nasty trick.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

First person cured of type 1 diabetes thanks to stem cells

An experimental stem cell treatment has eliminated type 1 diabetes in a patient, giving experts guarded hope for a diabetes cure.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

A simple webcam can automatically catch — and treat — infant jaundice

Researchers in Australia and Iraq have developed a system that uses a webcam to catch infant jaundice and begin treatment right away.

B. David Zarley

New salt-grain sized micro camera takes images on par with a full size camera’s

Researchers have created a salt-grain sized micro camera capable of taking images almost on par with a regular camera.

B. David Zarley

AI artist Botto has made its first million

AI artist Botto, which hones its taste via a human community, has made a splash in the art market, going from NFTs to Miami.

B. David Zarley

AI creates realistic pictures from pure text

NVIDIA’s new AI can translate text into images.

B. David Zarley

AI can translate normal written text to code

Codex, from OpenAI, can turn normal, conversational commands into programming, taking text to code.

B. David Zarley

Drugs

This device can automatically detect and reverse opioid overdoses

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed an AI-powered wearable to detect, and reverse via naloxone injection, opioid overdoses.

B. David Zarley

Archaeology

X-rays may save Henry VIII’s resurrected warship, the last of its kind

Henry VIII’s favorite warship survived centuries under the sea. New x-ray scanning technology will hopefully help preserve the Mary Rose for centuries more.

B. David Zarley

Food

A patch to treat peanut allergies appears safe to wear for years

A peanut allergy can be debilitating at best, and life threatening at worst. A new possible treatment looks to be safe to wear for at least three years.

B. David Zarley