Lungs

Patients who are at high risk of lung cancer can get screened with low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans.

Millions More Smokers Should Be Screened for Lung Cancer—Even if They Quit Long Ago

The American Cancer Society released new guidance on who should get yearly scans for lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death around the world

Moderna is one of several companies currently working on a vaccine for RSV.

Experimental RSV Vaccine Prevents Illness in Older Adults, Moderna Says

In a large clinical trial, the vaccine was 83.7 percent effective at preventing two or more symptoms of respiratory illness in people over the age of 60

Boas constrict their prey to death.

How Boa Constrictors Breathe While Squeezing the Life Out of Their Prey

Researchers outfitted the snakes with electrodes and scanned them using X-rays to see how the flexing predators managed to take in air

Experiments showed that pigs and mice can absorb oxygen through their rectums.

Anally Delivered Oxygen Kept Suffocating Pigs and Mice Alive in the Lab. Could the Method One Day Save Human Lives, Too?

The technique may provide doctors with a new way of providing supplemental oxygen for patients with failing lungs

Haze in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Air Pollution Is Stealing a Year of Life From People Around the Globe

Tiny particles that contribute to lung disease, strokes and heart attacks are robbing Americans of 4 months and over 1.8 years of life elsewhere

Coal miners walk through a tunnel at the Consol Energy Bailey Mine in Wind Ridge, Pennsylvania in 2013.

Why Black Lung Disease Is Deadlier Than Ever Before

As President Trump prepares to send miners back to work, a near-obsolete illness is once again ravaging coal country

The mechanical lung would function outside the patient's body.

An Artificial Lung That Fits In a Backpack

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are developing a device that works like the sophisticated organ

The warning label on cartons of duty-free cigarettes in Munich, Germany circa 2006.

People Have Tried to Make U.S. Cigarette Warning Labels More Graphic for Decades

On this day in 1964, the surgeon general officially said that smoking causes cancer. But warning labels in America still don't show its effects

Your breath might be bad, but it's also amazing.

Your Breath Does More Than Repulse—It Can Also Tell Doctors Whether You Have Cancer

An artificial “nose” could be the next tool for diagnosing illnesses from cancer to Crohn's disease

A bonfire of elephant ivory burns in Kenya's Nairobi National Park in July 1989.

Wondering What a Bonfire Does to Your Lungs? We Answer Your Burning Questions

Setting large piles of stuff aflame can have significant environmental and human health impacts

Smoking leaves permanent scars on cells, new research finds.

Smoking a Pack a Day for a Year Leaves 150 Mutations in Every Lung Cell

Researchers quantify just how bad smoking is for you, molecularly

Ask Smithsonian: What’s the Longest You Can Hold Your Breath?

A dive into the science shows it is possible to override the system

Maya Varma won $150,000 as one of the first place winners in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search competition.

How a High School Senior Won $150,000 By Inventing a $35 Medical Device

When Maya Varma learned an expensive diagnostic tool is rare in the developing world, she decided to build her own

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