What’s in Your Salt?

Total solar eclipse in 2017 drew a brief surge in traffic accidents

There was a significant increase in fatal car crashes in the United States around the time of the 2017 total solar eclipse, a new analysis shows.

The analysis, published as a research letter Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, found a 31% increase in traffic risks around the time of the eclipse, similar to the increase in risk around other holidays like Thanksgiving. In absolute terms, this is an average of 1 extra crash-involved person every 25 minutes and 1 extra crash fatality every 95 minutes.

Intermittent Fasting Linked to Higher CVD Death Risk

A new study raises a cautionary note on time-restricted eating (TRE), a type of intermittent fasting that is gaining popularity. The observational analysis of over 20,000 US adults showed that those who limited their eating to a period of less than 8 hours per day had a higher risk for cardiovascular mortality compared with peers who ate across the typical 12-16 hours per day.

Sweetened Drinks Linked to Atrial Fibrillation Risk

Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology | Drinking sugar or artificially sweetened beverages was associated with increased risk of irregular heart rhythms, finds a study in Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology.

Handwriting and the Brain Connection

The Evidence of Handwriting’s Benefits | Writing out the same word again and again in cursive may bring back bad memories for some, but handwriting can boost connectivity across brain regions, some of which are implicated in learning and memory, a new study shows.