Disease and Illnesses

Cyanobacteria, sometimes known as blue-green algae, are single-celled organisms that use photosynthesis to produce food just like plants do.

Need to Fix a Heart Attack? Try Photosynthesis

Injecting plant-like creatures into a rat's heart can jumpstart the recovery process, study finds

In the past half-century, this tiny object has gone from feminist icon to dangerous villain to, incredibly, feminist icon once again. And no, we're not sure why the background is pink.

From Medical Pariah to Feminist Icon: The Story of the IUD

After decades of being shunned by women and doctors alike, this T-shaped device is enjoying a new surge of popularity

When Fresh Air Went Out of Fashion at Hospitals

How the hospital went from luxury resort to windowless box

Pasteur took blood samples from a cow, a sheep and a horse who had died of anthrax.

How Sheep's Blood Helped Disprove This Wacky Nineteenth-Century Theory of Illness

Scientists didn't understand that bacteria caused disease, but then enter Louis Pasteur

Trapped inside this ice core is evidence that suggests humans have been polluting the atmosphere with lead for thousands of years.

Humans Polluted the Air Much Earlier Than Previously Thought

Ice cores suggest that humans have been polluting the air with lead for at least 2,000 years

A new vaccine is ready for action in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Democratic Republic of Congo Approves Ebola Vaccine

It’s the newest tool in health workers’ arsenal against the contagious virus

Don’t skimp on the SPF

How Sunscreen Protects Your Skin’s DNA

The chemistry behind this protective lotion reflects a modern understanding of the danger of ultraviolet rays

"Oh, hello. I didn't see you there. I was just catching up on my latest diary entry."

Samuel Pepys Was England's First Blogger

The famed blogger—okay, diarist—told historians so much about 17th-century daily life in England, but he could have told us so much more

Hospitals Have a Big Problem: Baking Soda

It's common in kitchens, but a nationwide shortage is endangering more than baked goods

Aubrey de Grey says, “There’s no such thing as aging gracefully.”

Can Human Mortality Really Be Hacked?

Backed by the digital fortunes of Silicon Valley, biotech companies are brazenly setting out to “cure” aging

Chocolate, coffee and tea all played a role in overturning a medical theory that had dominated the Western world for more than a millennium.

How Coffee, Chocolate and Tea Overturned a 1,500-Year-Old Medical Mindset

The humoral system dominated medicine since the Ancient Greeks—but it was no match for these New World beverages

A nurse suits up in Liberia before entering an Ebola red zone in 2015. Now, a single case of Ebola has been confirmed in Congo by the World Health Organization.

Ebola Returns to the Democratic Republic of Congo

A single death has been confirmed—now public health officials must keep an outbreak from becoming an epidemic

Drinking fountain on the Halifax County Courthouse (North Carolina) in April 1938.

Racism Harms Children's Health, Survey Finds

Racism may not be a disease, exactly. But a growing body of research finds that it has lasting physical and mental effects on its victims

This memorial to the victims of Nazi Germany's "euthanasia" program was erected in Berlin in 2000.

German Scientists Will Study Brain Samples of Nazi Victims

A research society is still coming to grips with its past—and learning more about how the Third Reich targeted people with disabilities

Fruit bats are thought to be the natural host for the Ebola virus. Groups like USAID PREDICT regularly monitor such diseases in wildlife to prevent the jump from animal to humans.

Can Saving Animals Prevent the Next Deadly Pandemic?

A global disease monitoring network is banking on the idea that healthier wildlife means healthier humans

During World War I, a critical shaving tool caused critical illness in hundreds of people.

How Shaving Brushes Gave World War I Soldiers Anthrax

A new paper looks back on an old epidemic—and raises fresh questions about antique shaving brushes

A field hospital in Virginia, photographed in 1862, shows the grim conditions during the Civil War.

Fearing a Smallpox Epidemic, Civil War Troops Tried to Self-Vaccinate

People knew that inoculation could prevent you from catching smallpox. It was how Civil War soldiers did it that caused problems

A baby in Ghana rests underneath a mosquito net. Ghana will become one of three African countries to pilot the new malaria vaccine in 2018.

Hundreds of Thousands of Babies Will Receive World’s First Malaria Vaccine

The pilot program will focus on Kenya, Ghana and Malawi—countries at the center of the global malaria crisis

Why We Need To Start Listening To Insects

You may not think of the buzz and whine of insects as musical, but the distinctive pitch of mosquito wingbeats could tell us how to fight malaria

This map of London shows it around the time of John Gaunt's work.

People Have Been Using Big Data Since the 1600s

A humble hatmaker was among the first to compile data on how Londoners lived—and died

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