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Health

An illustration depicting the life cycle of a cancer cell

This DNA-Based Attack Against Cancer May Just Work

A newly approved treatment is a milestone in gene therapy for cancer

Macrophages begin to fuse with, and inject its toxins into, the cancer cell. The cell starts rounding up and loses its spikes.

Where We Are in the Hunt for a Cancer Vaccine

Two new studies have promising results

Vanessa Brandon worried that her cancer was a burden on her family: “I don’t want my sickness to become their sickness.”

Could Immunotherapy Lead the Way to Fighting Cancer?

A new treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer is offering hope to patients with advanced disease

Your Low-Calorie Sweetener Could Be Making You Fat

There are several ways that consuming artificial sweeteners might contribute to obesity

Periplaneta Americana

New Research

Cockroach Genome Shows Why They Are Impossible to Kill

The massive genome includes code for neutralizing toxins, regrowing limbs and a thousand genes for detecting food and chemicals

Thanks to its neutral taste, cricket flour hides well in oatmeal and baked goods. But a Canadian grocery chain isn't hiding its unusual ingredient: it's putting a picture of a cricket on its logo.

Why Canada Wants You to Know You’re Eating Crickets

In some countries, insects may finally be getting their due as affordable, nutritious protein sources

A sunny day in Finland, the world's happiest country in 2018 according to new UN report.

Europe

UN Report Finds Finland Is the Happiest Country in the World

In the 2018 World Happiness Report, Finland scored high on six key variables

People drink 500 billion plastic bottles of water a year, according to The Guardian.

Study Finds Microplastics in More than 90 Percent of Tested Water Bottles

But the effects of microplastics on human health are far from clear

A beach in Naples.

For the Third Year in a Row, This City Was Tapped as America’s Happiest

The area’s success may be due, in part, to the fact that it is home to a large number of older Americans

The Proliferation of Happiness

A professor of consumer culture tracks the history of positive psychology

The sensor can be stuck on the skin like a Band-Aid.

These Flexible Sensors Could Help Monitor a Stroke Patient In Recovery

Worn on the throat to evaluate speech, or on the body to track movement, stretchable sensors could lead to better rehabilitation

The trepanated skull of a Neolithic woman. The fact that the hole is rounded off by ingrowth of new bone suggests that the patient survived the operation.

No, Getting a Hole Drilled in Your Head Was Never a Migraine Cure

The ancient and controversial procedure was used for a slew of reasons, but to ‘let the headache out’ was not one of them

New Research

No, Your Nose Isn’t as Big as That Selfie Makes It Seem

If you take a selfie from just 12 inches away, it may make your nose look 30 percent bigger

Making history

Trending Today

Five Things to Know About Roger Bannister, the First Person to Break the 4-Minute Mile

The Oxford medical student, who died on March 3 at age 88, broke what was believed to be an impossible record

"The Night," Michele di Rodolfo del Ghirlandaio, oil on panel, Galleria Colonna, Rome, Italy

New Research

Earliest Images of Breast Cancer Found in Renaissance Paintings

The signs of illness in the paintings illustrate that breast cancer is not just a modern malady

Dubai is home to three million residents, making city-wide DNA testing no small feat.

Dubai Wants to DNA Test Its Millions of Residents to Prevent Genetic Disease

The ambitious plan is part of its Dubai 10X Initiative to improve health in the city

This graphene-filled tube is sensitive to the slightest movements.

This Low-Cost, Graphene Device Could Help Monitor a Baby’s Health

Physicists have developed a graphene-based liquid that can sense tiny changes in breathing and heart rate

New Research

This Electronic “Skin” Already Has a Sense of Touch. Now It Can Also Heal Itself

The new e-skin can both heal itself and be recycled, limiting electronic waste

Hilleman's one-year-old daughter Kirsten (center, with her sister Jeryl Lynn and Dr. Robert Weibel) became the first to receive the mumps vaccine.

The Next Pandemic

You Should Thank Maurice Hilleman for Helping You Live Past the Age of 10

A new Smithsonian podcast tells the story of the “Greatest Scientist of the 20th Century”

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Arizona Woman Wakes Up With Foreign Accent

The 45 year old has woken up with Australian, Irish and British accents

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