Body

What a Tiny Fish Can Tell Us About How Humans Stood Upright

What is the root of why our ancestors gained the power to walk on two feet and chimpanzees didn't?

Mini-organs grow around the tiny scaffolds (lower left). The magnified image (right) shows the hair-thin channels that serve as blood vessels.

How a Tiny, "Beating" Human Heart Was Created in a Lab

The device, filled with human heart cells, could dramatically reduce the time it takes to test new drugs and end testing on animals

Scientists used an an integrated tissue-organ printer, or ITOP, to create this ear.

Scientists Printed a Human Ear

The scientific breakthrough is more than a creepy experiment—one day, it could save lives

Michelangelo painted some of art history's greatest hands.

Michelangelo May Have Had Arthritis

Researchers used old portraits and letters to study the master's hands

Scientists reconfigured a magnetic resonance scanner to capture a woman and her baby.

Why I Captured This MRI of a Mother and Child

A venerable symbol of human love, as you've never seen it before

Future Cops May Track Down Criminals By Making Fingerprints Glow

One scientist's revenge could be the ultimate crime-fighting tool

Prosthetics Could Soon Have a Sense of Touch

A technology suprisingly inspired by Darth Vader

The sensors can be printed on temporary tattoo-like material, which sticks on the skin for a week.

Tiny, Tattoo-Like Wearables Could Monitor Your Health

University of Texas engineers devise a relatively inexpensive way to make disposable patches that track patients' vital signs

People Can’t Tell Which of Their Toes Is Being Touched

The piggy that stayed home and the piggy that got roast beef get mixed up the most

The More You Have to Pee, The Easier Lying May Be

Full bladders make for better fibs

How does skin heal? You'll never look at a scab the same way again.

Ask Smithsonian: How Does Skin Heal?

The skin is an organ system that is unique to each individual, so not everyone heals the same way

This Bionic Suit May Be the Future of Prosthetics

Inventor Scott Summit is personalizing medical devices through 3D printing

Can You Crack a Medical Mystery?

A startup called CrowdMed asks volunteer detectives to study cases of patients with symptoms that baffle doctors

Does Dieting Actually Make Your Stomach Shrink?

Not exactly, says science—stretchiness and psychology seem to play bigger roles than size in determining how much a person can eat

Why Brain-to-Brain Communication Is No Longer Unthinkable

Exploring uncharted territory, neuroscientists are making strides with human subjects who can "talk" directly by using their minds

Soon, Your Doctor Could Print a Human Organ on Demand

At a laboratory in North Carolina, scientists are working furiously to create a future in which replacement organs come from a machine

An X-ray of the knee bone.

We're Not That Far From Being Able to Grow Human Bones in a Lab

The company EpiBone could be on the verge of a major breakthrough

Building a Bionic Pancreas

A device that tracks blood sugar and automatically administers insulin and glucagon could take some pressure off Type 1 diabetes patients and their parents

Use Virtual Reality to Eliminate That Pain in Your Neck

Altering visual perceptions can trick the brains of chronic sufferers so they can enjoy pain-free motion

Adrenaline crystals (polarized light micrographs). Adrenaline, also called epinephrine, is normally present in blood in small quantities. It is a hormone produced in the adrenal glands above the kidneys. The glands are controlled by the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for instinct and emotion. In times of stress, more adrenaline is secreted into the bloodstream. It widens the airways of the lungs and constricts small blood vessels. This makes the muscles work harder and produces a "fight or flight" response. Adrenaline used as a drug expands the bronchioles in acute asthma attacks and stimulates the heart in cases of anaphylactic shock.

Blood Clots, Liver Cells and Bird Flu Are Surprisingly Beautiful Under a Microscope

The brightly-colored micrographs and scans in a new book, <i>Science is Beautiful</i>, answer big questions about the human body

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