Nicole Wetsman

health reporter @ the verge

Pinned article

Health care’s huge cybersecurity problem

The patient lying on the emergency room table in front of Paul Pugsley was having a stroke. Time was running out. Pugsley, an emergency medicine resident at Maricopa Medical Center, knew he needed to send the patient for a CT scan. But when Pugsley…

Aug. 5, 2020

FDA confirms Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 3 is cleared for EKG, just like the Apple Watch

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 includes a heart-monitoring electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) app, which has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It’s the second smartwatch in the US with this feature; the Apple Watch received clearance…

Aug. 5, 2020

Apple and Google’s COVID-19 tracking system will make its full US debut in new Virginia app

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This week, Virginia plans to release a COVID-19 exposure notification app based on the specifications published by Apple and Google in April. The app, called COVIDWISE, is the first fully deployed…

Aug. 4, 2020

We can’t skip steps on the road to a COVID-19 vaccine

Photo by Blake Nissen for The Boston Globe via Getty Images The pharmaceutical company Moderna started the last, longest step in the process of testing its COVID-19 vaccine candidate at the end of July — a Phase 3 clinical trial. It’s an enormous…

Jul. 31, 2020

There’s unproven tech in the NBA’s COVID-19 prevention plan

It didn’t surprise James Gilmore to hear that the NBA was turning to smart rings to help manage the risk of COVID-19 inside its “bubble” at Disney World, where the league hopes to finish the rest of the season. “The NBA, and the NBA Players…

Jul. 21, 2020

New COVID testing strategy could speed up backlogged labs

Photo by William Campbell / Getty Images Samples scraped from the back of patients’ noses and throats can now be bundled together and tested for the coronavirus in groups in one of the country’s biggest commercial labs. Quest Diagnostics, which…

Jul. 17, 2020

Women’s soccer fans are online, organized, and refuse to be ignored

In mid-June, a sports business reporter tweeted that ESPN was planning to run a two-hour special with commissioners of the National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, and the Women’s…

Jul. 15, 2020

Popular Science

Turn any magazine into a flashlight with this optical illusion

We know you are bored at home right now—we are too. Here are some puzzles and brainteasers to challenge your family and friends with, either in person or over video chat. Roll a magazine—might we recommend Popular Science?—into a tube. Now, keeping…

Jul. 9, 2020

Popular Science

What animal do you see in this image of a nebula?

We know you are bored at home right now—we are too. Here are some puzzles and brainteasers to challenge your family and friends with, either in person or over video chat. This image of the Carina nebula shows only dust, ionized gases, and stars. But…

Jul. 8, 2020

Doctors are better at treating COVID-19 patients now than they were in March

In early March, most doctors in the United States had never seen a person sick with COVID-19. Four months later, nearly every emergency room and intensive care physician in the country is intimately familiar with the disease. In that time, they’ve…

Jul. 7, 2020

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for COVID-19

Photo by Andre Borges/NurPhoto via Getty Images Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive for COVID-19, he announced today. He is 65 years old. Over the weekend, he attended a US Independence Day event with US Ambassador Todd Chapman.…

Jul. 7, 2020

Sports bubbles are good places to study COVID-19

Photo by Joe Murphy / NBAE via Getty Images Sports are coming back in the United States, and as they do, professional leagues are creating conditions that researchers say are tailor-made to study COVID-19. They offer sizable groups of people who are…

Jun. 29, 2020

Blood donors will help researchers figure out how long novel coronavirus antibodies last

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images The American Red Cross is testing all donated blood for novel coronavirus antibodies and will use that information to learn more about the spread of COVID-19. They’ll also check back in with donors to find out how…

Jun. 26, 2020

The new COVID-19 surge may be harder to contain

A record-high number of new COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States on Thursday, driven by spikes in Southern and Western states. The surges are steep and scary, and may be even harder to beat back than the first upswing. The same problems…

Jun. 24, 2020

Two months after last peak, US hits grim new record in COVID-19 cases

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images There were 38,672 positive COVID-19 tests reported in the United States today, a new record high, according to the COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer organization housed at The Atlantic that collects data on…

Jun. 22, 2020

There isn’t enough research to know if tear gas causes early periods

Photo by Stanton Sharpe/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Sarah Trad and Christina Lower were both caught by the edge of a cloud of tear gas when they attended a protest against police brutality early this month. They weren’t in the direct…

Jun. 17, 2020

Police body cam videos can underplay officer brutality

Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images Over the last several weeks, social media has been filled with videos of police officers pepper-spraying, bludgeoning, and shooting protestors. They were captured by civilians, recording on smartphones…

Jun. 16, 2020

Cheap steroid reportedly improves survival for severe COVID-19 cases

Photo by BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images A cheap, common steroid improves survival rates for COVID-19 patients on ventilators, according to a press release from the research team. The drug, called dexamethasone, reduced deaths by one-third in…

Jun. 15, 2020

FDA ends emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine

Photo by GEORGE FREY/AFP via Getty Images The Food and Drug Administration is withdrawing emergency authorization for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as treatments for COVID-19, the agency announced today. Recent clinical trials showed that the…

Jun. 14, 2020

Popular Science

Your brain won’t let you see all 12 dots in this image

We know you are bored at home right now—we are too. Here are some puzzles and brainteasers to challenge your family and friends with, either in person or over video chat. Twelve black dots dance about this grid. They never actually move or vanish,…

Jun. 12, 2020

It’s hard to figure out how often people without symptoms spread COVID-19

Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images In January, early reports out of China started to hint that people infected with the coronavirus were contagious before they started to show symptoms. That’s unusual for a respiratory virus like this one,…