Health

Many Americans struggle with risk assessment when making decisions during the pandemic.

Why It’s So Hard to Make Risk Decisions in the Pandemic

Our brains weren’t built to do public health calculus like this, but following a few pieces of advice from the experts will help as you weigh your options

Some seagrasses are linked to lower levels of gastroenteritis-causing pathogens in the water. 

Seagrass Can Work as a Sanitation Service

Millions of cases of potentially deadly gastroenteritis are prevented each year because of the pathogen-reducing powers of the plant

The metal gallium becomes a liquid at slightly above room temperature, one of its many remarkable properties that researchers are investigating.

This Liquid Metal Could Transform Soft Electronics

Bend it. Stretch it. Use it to conduct electricity. Researchers are exploring a range of applications that harness gallium's unusual properties

A gorilla sleeps in a forest in Rwanda.

Why Humans Sleep Less Than Their Primate Relatives

Ancient humans may have evolved to slumber efficiently—and in a crowd

Aseel Rawashdeh's innovation won sixth place in this year's Regeneron Science Talent Search, the country's most prestigious and oldest science and math competition for promising young scientists in their senior year.

This Teenager Found a Way to Control Mosquitoes Using Essential Oils and Baker's Yeast

Aseel Rawashdeh's inexpensive larvicide kills disease-spreading species and spares beneficial ones

Demonstrators at a pro-choice march in April 1989

In 1973, a Leak at the Supreme Court Broke News of an Imminent Ruling on Roe v. Wade

Nearly 50 years later, a similar disclosure revealed that the court is poised to overturn legalized abortion in the U.S.

Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms (pictured here), has been designated by the FDA as a breakthrough therapy for treatment resistant depression.

Why Psychedelic Drugs May Become a Key Treatment for PTSD and Depression

Ecstasy and the active ingredient in magic mushrooms have shown promise in clinical trials, but more testing is needed

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Innovation for Good

A look at the researchers, inventors and community leaders who are bringing creativity and ingenuity to today's biggest challenges

Kane Tanaka was born on January 2, 1903.

Kane Tanaka, World's Oldest Person, Dies at 119

According to her family, the Japanese supercentenarian had been hospitalized and discharged repeatedly in recent weeks

A man receives a Covid-19 vaccine in Zimbabwe.

Should Traditional Vaccines Be Used in the Global Fight Against Covid?

Researcher Maria Elena Bottazzi says such vaccines may be key to protecting individuals in middle- and low-income countries

At least 36 bald eagles have died since February because of the H5N1 strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The virus is also causing the death of millions of commercial chickens and turkeys.

Bald Eagles Are Dying From Bird Flu

The highly contagious H5N1 strain is also infecting commercial chickens and turkeys

A 19th-century illustration of two yellow fever victims in New Orleans

How Yellow Fever Intensified Racial Inequality in 19th-Century New Orleans

A new book explores how immunity to the disease created opportunities for white, but not Black, people

Visible in the entrance to their den are a mother black bear, who has been sedated, and her female cub. Scientists are watching to see how bears will tweak their hibernation habits as the climate warms.

Why Amazing Discoveries About Bear Hibernation May Help Improve Human Health

The creatures' annual protracted snoozes have much to tell us about the biology of mammals, ourselves included

To many people, Henrietta Lacks, painted by Kadir Nelson in 2017, symbolizes inequity in medicine. Lacks died from cervical cancer in 1951, but her tumor cells— used in research without her permission—would enable medical advances, including the polio vaccine.

The Historical Roots of Racial Disparities in American Health Care

A new documentary from the Smithsonian Channel, 'The Color of Care,' produced by Oprah Winfrey, shines a light on medicine’s biases

A worker prepares a hot air balloon during a festival in Ba Vi National Park, west of Hanoi, Vietnam.

Good News

Uplifting stories to brighten your day

It’s shocking how many everyday inventions we use without acknowledging the inventors that helped bring them to us.

Five Women Inventors You Didn't Learn About in History Class

These innovators pioneered word processing, launched Americans into space and more

A museum patron enjoys Yayoi Kusama's latest work, Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe (2018), where paper lanterns and dots endlessly multiply inside the chamber.

Art Sensation Yayoi Kusama Wraps Visitors in Polka Dots, Pumpkins and a World Without End

A new Infinity Mirror Room with its forever-repeating lights and imagery opens at the Hirshhorn with other works by the iconic artist

Alice Ball was just 23 years old when she developed a method of making chaulmoogra oil—an early treatment for leprosy—more easily injectable.

The Trailblazing Black Woman Chemist Who Discovered a Treatment for Leprosy

After Alice Ball's death in 1916 at age 24, a white man took credit for her research

Most people who had only mild Covid-19 infections are not at higher risk for persistent mental health challenges.

Lasting Depression and Anxiety Can Follow Severe Covid-19 Cases

Some patients with serious reactions to the virus reported mental health symptoms almost a year and a half after infection

A first grade student receives a Covid-19 vaccine in Chicago, Illinois

Six Important Things to Know About Covid Vaccination in Children

Experts share the latest research and advice about protecting kids

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