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Health

The hand dryer-sized device can detect E. coli, salmonella, norovirus, hepatitis A, and listeria.

This Device Tracks How Well You Wash Your Hands

Biomedical engineers have developed a wall-mounted scanner that can detect microbes that cause foodborne illness

These deficiencies are just the starting point for much bigger problems.

New Research

Climate Change Could Lead to Nutrient Deficiency for Hundreds of Millions

Carbon dioxide decreases zinc, iron and protein in food crops, which could add millions of people to the billions who don’t get enough nutrition

Haze in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

New Research

Air Pollution Is Stealing a Year of Life From People Around the Globe

Tiny particles that contribute to lung disease, strokes and heart attacks are robbing Americans of 4 months and over 1.8 years of life elsewhere

Biobot Analytics is tracking the use of opioids, neighborhood by neighborhood, by analyzing the sewage in Cary, North Carolina.

Sewage May Hold the Key to Tracking Opioid Abuse

Public health managers are hoping to pinpoint how and when people abuse drugs in order to prevent deaths

A child tests the Superpower Glass.

“Superpower Glass” Helps Kids With Autism Understand Emotions

A new Stanford-designed technology pairs Google Glass with a face-identifying AI app that tells wearers what emotions they’re seeing

Rickets, a disease caused by vitamin D deficiency that results in skeletal deformities, has been traced back to the Roman Empire.

Many Roman Children Suffered From Vitamin D Deficiency

New research suggests rickets was common long before the Industrial Revolution, when pollution blocked out sunlight

The FDA Has Approved the First Generic EpiPen Alternative

The new product will offer a more affordable alternative to a life-saving drug

If you're feeling doggone lonesome after a poor night's rest, don't fret: the authors say just one good night of sleep can reboot feelings of sociability.

Sleep Deprivation May Cause Infectious Loneliness

A new study found that sleepless nights can make you—and the people around you—feel more socially withdrawn

These electrode-embedded chopsticks can simulate saltiness.

Using Electric Currents to Fool Ourselves Into Tasting Something We’re Not

Nimesha Ranasinghe is bringing a new dimension to virtual reality, embedding electric taste simulation technology into utensils

Blood-Sucking Invasive Tick Species Spreading Across United States

The Asian long-horned tick has not yet been found to harbor deadly pathogens, but it poses serious risks to animals

Hospital Superbug May Be Developing Tolerance to Hand Sanitizers

Australian researchers have found that a strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is able to survive after being exposed to alcohol solutions

Fears materialized when a series of deadly botulism cases struck unassuming consumers throughout the country.

The Botulism Outbreak That Gave Rise to America’s Food Safety System

In late 1919 and early 1920, scientists and canners worked with the government to protect the public from the deadly toxin

The Boarding Glasses have two round lenses in front and two on the side, the hollow rims each half filled with blue liquid.

Could These Glasses Cure Your Motion Sickness?

These odd-looking spectacles are the latest invention to try to resolve the common ailment

A fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) feeding off a banana.

How Fruit Flies Stay Young at Heart

Researchers link structural alterations to fruit fly hearts to longevity-promoting changes in metabolism

A human wrist (and wristwatch) imaged with the new 3D, color x-ray machine developed by MARS Bioimaging.

Cool Finds

Check Out These Awesome New 3D, Full-Color X-Rays

The scanner uses technology developed for the Large Hadron Collider

A rendering of the venipuncture robot

A Robot May One Day Draw Your Blood

Scientists have developed a “venipuncture robot” that can automatically draw blood and perform lab tests, no humans needed

Scientists with Smithsonian’s Global Health Program examine a wrinkle-lipped bat, which can harbor a never-before-seen virus.

New Research

A Never-Before-Seen Virus Has Been Detected in Myanmar’s Bats

The discovery of two new viruses related to those that cause SARS and MERS marks PREDICT’s first milestone in the region

This image, taken in 2016 by NASA's Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite, shows an algal bloom covering 33 square miles, or about 4 percent, of Lake Okeechobee. This year's bloom is significantly bigger, covering 90 percent of the lake.

A Toxic Algal Bloom Is Spreading in Florida’s Waterways

The bloom started last month in Lake Okeechobee, but has quickly spread to waterways on both coasts

Archaeologists discovered evidence of an array of foods, including herring, eel, cod, apples, raspberries, cherries and rye bread

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unseal 17th-Century Danish Latrines to Discover Copenhageners’ Dietary Habits

The Danish finds reveal their owners’ rich diet of fish and meat, fruits, spices—and the presence of parasites, including tapeworms and roundworms

A kissing bug with an attached radio transmitter at a private home in Texas.

New Research

How Tiny Trackers Could Help Humans Avoid Kissing Bugs’ Deadly Smooch

The insects, which spread Chagas disease, can now be tracked with miniature radios to stop the spread of illness

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