Health & Medicine

A dried sample of the original Penicillium mold that Fleming discovered in 1928.

The ‘Penicillin Girls’ Made One of the World’s Most Life-Saving Discoveries Possible

The true, forgotten and sometimes-stinky history of the cohort who took Alexander Fleming's innovation and forever changed the face of modern medicine

Mark Muhn of Team Cleveland on his way to winning the Functional Electrical Stimulation bike race in the inaugural Cybathlon in 2016. Muhn’s legs are paralyzed; the muscles in them are activated by electric signals from a controller outside of his body.

Bionic 'Pilots' Compete for the Gold at the Cybathlon

In the international competition, people with physical disabilities put state-of-the-art devices to the test as they race to complete the tasks of everyday life

Clark Stanley’s snake oil was a marketing gimmick from the very start. 

How Snake Oil Became a Symbol of Fraud and Deception

The terms “snake oil” and “snake-oil salesperson” are part of the vernacular thanks to Clark Stanley, a quack doctor who marketed a product for joint pain in the late 19th century

A pregnant mother’s mental wellness can impact her child’s future physical, mental and behavioral health

The Future of Mental Health

Can a Mother’s Mental Health Impact a Baby in the Womb?

Growing research indicates a pregnant woman’s stress level and overall mental well-being can affect fetal and child development, yet access to prenatal mental health care remains inadequate

The bladder and the brain are involved in determining when we need to urinate.

How Do We Know When to Pee?

The basic urge is surprisingly complex and can go awry as we age

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This Doctor Pioneered Counting Calories a Century Ago, and We’re Still Dealing With the Consequences

When Lulu Hunt Peters brought Americans a new method for weighing their dinner options, she launched a century of diet fads that left us hungry for a better way to keep our bodies strong and healthy

Oral health problems can signify other problems throughout the body.

Why Isn't Dental Health Considered Primary Medical Care?

Ailments of the mouth can put the body at risk for a slew of other ills, yet dentistry is often siloed

Hand washing is one of the simplest ways to prevent disease transmission.

The Dirty Secret About How Our Hands Spread Disease

The human hand is an incredible tool—and a deadly threat

A Parkinson’s patient in Nice, France, is prepped for a surgery to implant electrodes into the brain. The technique, called deep brain stimulation, is being used experimentally or in small studies to treat addiction.

Can a Brain Implant Treat Addiction?

Some experts tout deep brain stimulation as a lifeline for people struggling with opioid use. Others question the hype

CES 2024, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade fair, was held in Las Vegas January 9-12.

The Eight Coolest Inventions From the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show

A solar-powered electric vehicle, an at-home “multiscope,” an office bike that charges your devices and more were unveiled at the annual Las Vegas trade show

Ketamine and esketamine are the only psychedelics currently being used clinically with eating disorder patients.

The Future of Mental Health

Are Psychedelics the Future of Eating Disorder Treatment?

The drugs have been shown to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms and make individuals more flexible in their thinking

A new generation of blood pressure measuring devices that don’t require an inflatable cuff around the arm may make it easier to manage hypertension.

New Devices Could Change the Way We Measure Blood Pressure

Embedded in a cellphone or in accessories such as rings, bracelets or watches, the novel tools aim to make it easier to manage hypertension

Mass Audubon's science coordinator Mark Faherty examines a horseshoe crab in Pleasant Bay, where he has conducted research on them for years.

New Synthetic Horseshoe Crab Blood Could Mean Pharma Won't Bleed the Species Dry

The “living fossils” have been vital for testing intravenous drugs, but a few large pharmaceutical companies are using a lab-made compound instead

Could this innovation provide a solution to one of our era’s biggest scourges?

Scientists Have Created Synthetic Sponges That Soak Up Microplastics

Made from starch and gelatin, the biodegradable sponges remove as much as 90 percent of microplastics in tap water and seawater

Across the United States, around 70 percent of coal travels by rail.

Using A.I. to Track Air Pollution From Open-Top Coal Trains

Scientists in California are working with communities—and a suite of tools—to better monitor air quality

Researchers are using A/B testing to try to motivate patients to reach out for care.

Can New Messaging Methods Improve Health Care?

Public health experts are borrowing a technique from the tech world in hopes of spurring patients to get preventative care

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Women Who Shaped History

How an 1800s Midwife Solved a Poisonous Mystery

For decades before Doctor Anna’s discovery, “milk sickness” terrorized the Midwest, killing thousands of Americans on the frontier

By recording activity of specific neurons in the brain, researchers aim to pick up signals of intended speech.

The Brain-Computer Interfaces That Could Give Locked-In Patients a Voice

Implanted devices record the brain waves associated with speech and then use computer algorithms to translate the intended messages

Many new digital psychiatry solutions have attracted funding in recent years, and experts have questions about how helpful or harmful they will be.

The Future of Mental Health

Can Digital Psychiatry Really Fill the Mental Health Care Gap?

Thousands of new tools with unproven results are entering the fold to help Americans in need

Participants in a Heroes’ Harvests hunt in Idaho stop and call to distant male turkeys, or toms, to locate them.

The Future of Mental Health

Why Nature-Based Therapy Is Gaining Traction Among Veterans

Spending time outdoors can reduce symptoms of depression and PTSD—growing concerns among service members

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