Medicine

A nurse conducts a swab test for SARS-CoV-2 in Chessington, England.

Breaking Down the Two Tests That Could Help Contain the COVID-19 Pandemic

One detects an active infection; another signals that the virus has already left the body. Both are critical for tracking the spread of disease

Fashion designer Samantha Sleeper has made face masks for healthcare workers as supplies dwindle due to COVID-19.

As Face Mask Supply Dwindles, Fashion Designers Offer Their Assistance

In New York City, a desperate need among healthcare workers has pushed to the forefront the question: Is homemade equipment safe to use?

A ward at the Mare Island Naval Hospital in California during the influenza epidemic, November 1918

Ten Myths About the 1918 Flu Pandemic

The ‘greatest pandemic in history’ was 100 years ago – but many of us still get the basic facts wrong

A view of the deserted courtyard outside the closed Louvre

How COVID-19 Is Affecting the Cultural World

Museum closures and event cancellations abound as officials rush to contain the new coronavirus' spread

This illustration, created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), shows the virus' spiky, crown-like fringe that shrouds each viral particle—giving it a “coronated” appearance.

A Guide to What to Know About COVID-19

As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, so does misinformation. Here, you can find facts about the virus and infection it causes

Florence Nightingale in bed at South Street in 1906, aged 86

Celebrate Florence Nightingale's 200th Birthday With Exhibit Featuring Her Famed Lamp, Pet Owl

The Florence Nightingale Museum in London seeks to illuminate the "full story" of the pioneering healthcare reformer

Washing your hands doesn't just lift germs off your skin. It can destroy some of them, too—including the virus behind COVID-19.

Why Is Washing Your Hands So Important, Anyway?

A dive into the science behind why hand-washing and alcohol-based hand sanitizer work so well

Chitetsu Watanabe as a young man (left) and at age 112 (right)

Chitetsu Watanabe, the World's Oldest Man, Dies at 112

The Japanese supercentenarian attributed his longevity to not getting angry and keeping a smile on his face

Graphic illustrating the MAVEN spacecraft encountering plasma layers at Mars.

Ten Trends That Will Shape Science in the Decade Ahead

Medicine gets trippy, solar takes over, and humanity—finally, maybe—goes back to the moon

Depictions of Madame Yale often suggested that she had a hand in crafting her concoctions.

Madame Yale Made a Fortune With the 19th Century's Version of Goop

A century before today’s celebrity health gurus, an American businesswoman was a beauty with a brand

Left, the British Army camped at Balaklava in the Crimea. Right, an angelic Nightingale animates a stained glass window crafted around 1930.

The Defiance of Florence Nightingale

Scholars are finding there’s much more to the “lady with the lamp” than her famous exploits as a nurse in the Crimean War

By detecting the genetic traces of cancer cells in a patient's blood, medical scientists could open the door to easier diagnosis and more effective treatments.

How Simple Blood Tests Could Revolutionize Cancer Treatment

The latest DNA science can match tumor types to new treatments, and soon, a blood test might be able to detect early signs of cancer

Hartmann Schedel, The Nuremberg Chronicle (Anton Koberger, for Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kamermaister), 1493

One Hundred Museums Transformed Their Collections Into Free Coloring Pages

This year's #ColorOurCollections campaign features everything from medical drawings to zany 1920s advertisements for butter

Axolotls can regrow lost limbs, again and again, making them appealing to scientists who want to understand regeneration.

Some Salamanders Can Regrow Lost Body Parts. Could Humans One Day Do the Same?

In recent decades, the idea of human regeneration has evolved from an 'if' to a 'when'

This deer mouse certainly looks pretty stressed and scared.

When Stressed Out, Mice’s Fur Turns Gray Quickly

A new study gives scientific backing to an old adage—and suggests that stress might affect the human body in dramatic ways

The Cape coral snake is a venomous species that lives in arid regions of southern Africa.

The Future of Antivenom May Involve Mini Lab-Grown Snake Glands

The antiquated technique used to produce antivenom requires injecting venom into horses and this new method may someday remove that step from the process

Coronaviruses, like the newly identified Wuhan coronavirus, are so named for their halo- or crown-like appearance.

Officials Pinpoint First COVID-19 Case in United States

The mostly mysterious pathogen is known to pass from person to person, causing respiratory illness

Each year, people need to get a new flu shot to protect against the latest version of the influenza virus, which rapidly mutates. A universal flu vaccine could protect people for life.

As the World Faces One of the Worst Flu Outbreaks in Decades, Scientists Eye a Universal Vaccine

A universal flu vaccine would eliminate the need for seasonal shots and defend against the next major outbreak

The classic 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit has always been contested but authors of the new study say the figure is probably right and human body temperatures have actually decreased over time.

Human Body Temperature Is Getting Cooler, Study Finds

Our average normal temperature may no longer be 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit

A "living machine" containing frog stem cells in a new configuration designed by a computer algorithm. Parts shown in green are made up of frog skin cells, while parts in red are frog heart cells.

Scientists Assemble Frog Stem Cells Into First 'Living Machines'

The so-called 'xenobots' could replace traditional metal or plastic robots without polluting the planet, but they raise ethical questions

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