Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Disease

For all their flaws, lab mice have become an invaluable research model for genetics, medicine, neuroscience and more. But few people know the story of the first standardized lab mice.

Women Who Shaped History

The History of Breeding Mice for Science Begins With a Woman in a Barn

Far more than a mouse fancier, Abbie Lathrop helped establish the standard mouse model and pioneered research into cancer inheritance

Set to land in mid 2018, the new mosquito emoji will give people a new way to talk about the dangerous insects.

Will a New Mosquito Emoji Create Some Buzz About Insect-borne Diseases?

Available in mid-2018, the emoji could provide a new means for communicating the science and health implications of mosquitoes

Please for to vaccinate.

Trending Today

A Deadly Virus Is on the Rise for Australia’s Cats

“Cat plague” hasn’t been seen in pets down under for 40 years ago, but a new spate of cases has veterinarians concerned

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

Black lung x-rays from a patient in Birmingham, Alabama, 1972

New Research

Study Uncovers Startling Number of Black Lung Cases in Coal Miners

Miners are contracting the disease with striking frequency and at younger ages than ever before

Genetic testing is opening up new ethical questions for parents.

Ask Smithsonian

Now You Can Genetically Test Your Child For Disease Risks. Should You?

Genomics is cheaper and more available then ever, but its usefulness for parents has yet to be proven

Perhaps all this little bug needs is a few good swats.

New Research

Swatting May Teach Mosquitoes to Avoid Your Scent

Though it won’t work for all species, Aedes aegypti mosquitos seem to have a memory for near-death experiences

Healthcare providers leave a village after completion of a culling operation in response to a bird flu outbreak in Budgebudge, West Bengal, India.

The Next Pandemic

The Pandemic Everyone Fears Is Flu In the Wrong Place At the Wrong Time

Governments should constantly be preparing for outbreaks, instead of just hastily responding to threats as they arise

Dr. Kevin Olival and the USAID PREDICT wildlife team surveying areas for bat trapping at the entrance to a cave in Thailand.

The Next Pandemic

Can Virus Hunters Stop the Next Pandemic Before It Happens?

A global project is looking to animals to map the world’s disease hotspots. Are they going about it the right way?

New Research

Simply Exhaling May Spread Flu

A new study suggests the virus is found in tiny airborne particles that can be released while breathing

Newborn saiga calf nestling in the arms of a scientist of the joint health monitoring team.

Over 200,000 Endangered Antelope Suddenly Die Thanks to … Weird Weather?

A change in humidity seems to have triggered bacteria that led to widespread death of the creatures

The Next Pandemic

Are Rats Innocent of Spreading the Black Plague?

Human pests like fleas and lice may be responsible for spreading the pandemic that devastated Medieval Europe

New Research

Why Holding in a Sneeze Can Be Dangerous

A 34-year-old man squeezed while holding nose closed, leading to a tear in his throat and a stay in the hospital

An etching of carts laden with corpses in the Piazza San Babila, Milan during the plague of 1630.

The Next Pandemic

How Proteins Helped Scientists Read Between the Lines of a 1630 Plague Death Registry

New tech reveals bacterial contamination, what scribes were eating and how many rats were around

Nilgai antelope, like the cattle fever ticks they carry, are considered an invasive species in places like Texas.

Why We Should Rethink How We Talk About “Alien” Species

In a trend that echoes the U.S.-Mexico border debate, some say that calling non-native animals “foreigners” and “invaders” only worsens the problem

The mummified remains of a small child that bears evidence of an ancient Hepatitis B infection.

New Research

16th-Century Child Mummy Had Oldest Known Case of Hepatitis B

Long thought to suffer from smallpox, the genome of the 500-year-old mummy shows signs of HPB

A bat undergoing a UV light treatment

New Research

UV Light Could Help Stop the Bat-Killing White Nose Syndrome

Research shows the fungus is susceptible to UV light. The problem is getting bats into the tanning beds

The Next Pandemic

When a Medical “Cure” Makes Things Much, Much Worse

In 1960s Japan, a bizarre outbreak of hairy green tongues failed to set off alarms around the world

The newly lifted funding ban allows for more research of viruses like influenza, SARS, and MERS. But critics worry it's a risky step.

The Next Pandemic

NIH Lifts Ban on Funding High-Risk Virus Research

Manipulating viruses could help prepare the U.S. for future pandemics, but it could also risk starting the next outbreak

Thomas Cole's The Course of Empire: Desolation, 1836

The Next Pandemic

How Climate Change and Plague Helped Bring Down the Roman Empire

We can learn crucial lessons by examining the natural forces that shaped Rome’s rise and fall

Page 26 of 40