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

A flu vaccine grown in tobacco plants just aced its clinical trials

Plant-based vaccines can be made cheaply and at scale. A tobacco plant-based vaccine for influenza has now been the first to complete clinical trials.

B. David Zarley

Public Health

Finally! A smart toilet offers fecal testing for the masses

Fecal testing can reveal a surprising amount of medical data. Israeli startup OutSense wants to do so from your home.

B. David Zarley

Public Health

Can a new polio vaccine help finish the virus off once and for all?

Thanks to polio vaccines and public health campaigns, polio is on the run — although COVID has it fighting back. Can a new vaccine help turn the tide again?

B. David Zarley

Virology

“Virus burritos” could be the key to vaccine preservation

Vaccine preservation is crucial to world health; the WHO estimates we waste 50% of vaccines a year. Vaccine burritos may provide some help.

B. David Zarley

Accessibility

Amputee veterans need to game, so this engineer builds new controllers from scratch

Inspired by his visits to Walter Reed Medical Center, engineer Ken Jones makes adaptive controllers to keep veterans gaming.

B. David Zarley

Animals

We finally have footage of remoras, the ocean's hitchhikers, in action

Using never-before-seen footage, researchers are learning more about how the remora moves around its hosts.

B. David Zarley

Activism

Museums are racing to save Hong Kong's history before it gets censored

A sweeping security law has Hong Kongers racing to digitize archives and artifacts, from Tiananmen Square to Telegram channels.

B. David Zarley

History

The race to find slave ships, before they're lost forever

Diving with a Purpose is training the next wave of marine archeologists, working with youth to document potential slave ship wrecks before they’re lost.

B. David Zarley

Drones

Dropping drones into volcanoes can help us predict eruptions

The ratio of sulphur to carbon dioxide being released can be an indicator of imminent volcanic eruptions. Researchers are using drones to gather that data.

B. David Zarley

Medicine

New nano drug may be able to break drug-resistant cancers — with fewer side effects

Drug-resistant cancers reduce the effectiveness of chemo. A team of researchers may have found a potential way to treat them.

B. David Zarley