Disease and Illnesses

Eight Innovators to Watch in 2017

Meet original thinkers who are breaking ground in medicine, art, drone design, fighting climate change and more

Hamblin's new book uses illustrations to help explain how the human body works—and sometimes doesn't work.

The Millennial’s Doctor Releases a Handbook on Bodies

Radiologist and <em>Atlantic</em> editor James Hamblin provides the answers we'd hear "If Our Bodies Could Talk"

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

Violence can spread like an epidemic among impressionable teenagers, according to new research.

Violence Among Teens Can Spread Like a Disease, Study Finds

Surveys of thousands of American teens add evidence to the theory that violence spreads in communities like a contagion

Flickering images can induce seizures in people with epilepsy.

Why Do Flashing Images Cause Seizures?

For people with epilepsy, a flashing screen can be more than a passing annoyance

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

The better to infect you with, my dear...

For Viruses, the Best Way to Infect Baby Is Through Mama

Some viruses might take it easier on women—to get to their children

It isn't pretty, but it made history.

Someone Paid $46,000 for a Bunch of Mold

Its discovery was an accident, but this scientific sample changed the course of medicine forever

There have been 38 facial transplants worldwide to date. Not all have survived.

Saving Face: How One Pioneering Surgeon Is Pushing the Limits of Facial Transplants

His reconstructed faces have tongues that taste and eyelids that blink. But will they withstand the test of time?

Hair removal is personal—but it may be time to bring science to the party.

Bare Down There? New Study Suggests You’re More Susceptible to STIs

Your pubic preferences could be linked to your sexual health

An Inca skull from the Cuzco region of Peru, showing four healed trepanations. The new review focuses on the practice in ancient China.

Drilling Deep: How Ancient Chinese Surgeons Opened Skulls and Minds

A new review finds evidence that the Chinese performed trepanation more than 3,500 years ago

Human skeletons found in a mass grave near the ruins of a medieval monastery in the English countryside.

English Mass Grave Sheds New Light on the Horrors of the Black Death

The burial pit contained 48 skeletons that tested positive for the plague

Researchers gave capsules containing psilocybin to cancer patients with terminal cancer—and witnessed spectacular results.

Could Magic Mushrooms One Day Help Cancer Patients Face Down Death?

Two new studies show the promise of psilocybin for patients with anxiety and depression

Head Transplant Patient Will Use Virtual Reality to Smooth Transition to New Body

The controversial surgical procedure is currently scheduled for next year

This fetus was visualized using new technology that offers a detailed view of a developing fetus using VR.

New Technology Shows Fetuses From the Inside Using Virtual Reality

It's a view that could change prenatal care

Conforming to masculine norms can leave men isolated and unable to cope with the stresses of life.

Sexism Sucks for Everybody, Science Confirms

Adhering to masculine norms can be toxic for men, not to mention everybody else

The offspring of mosquitoes like this one could soon be toast thanks to a new trial in Florida.

Florida Officials Will Release Genetically Modified Mosquitoes to Fight Zika

The Florida Keys are the latest front on the war against the virus

Take heart: researchers are probing how the hard-hearted get that way, and whether they can be turned back.

How the Heart Hardens, Biologically

With age and injury, the soft tissues of the heart can turn to bone. Can this deadly process be reversed?

Grégoire Courtine, an author on the new study, holds a silicon model of a primate’s brain, a microelectrode array and a pulse generator. The brain-spine interface consists of elements like these.

A New Wireless Brain Implant Helps Paralyzed Monkeys Walk. Humans Could Be Next.

One small step for monkeys, one potential leap for humans

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

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