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Health

When it comes to reversible ways to prevent pregnancy, men have limited options—for now.

New Research

Contraceptive Gel Called the “IUD For Men” Makes It Through Monkey Trials

Vasalgel aims to make contraception for men as easy and effective as IUDs have for women

Patients wear a NIRS apparatus—typically a neoprene helmet with dozens of optical sensors sticking out of it.

Patients With Locked-in Syndrome May Be Able to Communicate After All

A new use for brain-computer interfaces gives insight to life with ALS

A view into Flint drinking water pipes, showing various types of iron corrosion and rust.

New Research

Scientists Now Know Exactly How Lead Got Into Flint’s Water

New report points blames corrosion and warns that fixing lead poisoning nationwide will require more work than we hoped

Researchers are gathering data on when head impacts happen most often.

How Much Should Youth Football Change to Reduce Concussions?

Drop kickoff returns? Cut the number of players? Shrink the field?

A FVRx participant picks out produce at LA's Central Avenue Farmer's Market.

Take Three Zucchinis and Call Me in the Morning: The Power of Produce Prescriptions

Wholesome Wave’s fruit and vegetable prescription program meets mega-retail, as Target joins the cause

Chinese researchers have harnessed the power of deep learning to help doctors identify this rare disease.

New Research

Can Eagle-Eyed Artificial Intelligence Help Prevent Children From Going Blind?

Deep learning pinpoints cataracts more accurately than humans, and could help prevent this form of vision loss in children

The structure of the battery is formed from a sheet of chromatography paper, divided into a grid of creases.

This Spit-Powered Biobattery Is Made From a Single Sheet of Paper

Researchers at Binghamton University are developing inexpensive paper biobatteries to power simple sensors that monitor things like blood sugar

Mouse embryo growing rat heart cells

New Research

Human-Pig Chimeras Created for the First Time

The hybrid embryos are the first step in interspecies organ transplants

Clarius is the first ultrasound developer to go wireless, pairing its handheld device with a smartphone.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Handheld Ultrasound Scanner Could Be the Next Stethoscope

Clarius co-founder and CEO Laurent Pelissier believes the affordable, wireless device could revolutionize health care

New Research

Robo-Dermatologist Diagnoses Skin Cancer With Expert Accuracy

A neural network can recognize and categorize skin lesions as well as MDs and may lead to a cancer-screening mobile app

Soldiers schlepping heavy gear could one day use suits like these to help them walk farther, carry more, and experience less fatigue.

This Soft Exosuit Could Help People Walk Farther, Easier

Researchers at Harvard are developing an energy-saving supersuit that you might just wear one day

Doctors suggest that women get Pap smears to screen for cervical cancer. But should the guidelines be changed?

New Research

More Women Die of Cervical Cancer Than Previously Thought

Past studies significantly underestimated cervical cancer deaths—and racial disparities

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This App Uses Facial Recognition Software to Help Identify Genetic Conditions

A geneticist uploads a photo of a patient’s face, and Face2Gene gathers data and generates a list of possible syndromes

For British food scientists, toast color is no longer a matter of personal preference—it's a matter of health.

Why Food Experts Are Warning Not to Burn Your Toast

Is it time to bid brown toast farewell?

A reconstruction of Ötzi the Iceman at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.

Cool Finds

Ötzi the Iceman’s Last Meal Included Goat Bacon

Analysis of the 5,300-year-old mummy’s stomach contents shows he ate dry-cured meat from a mountain ibex

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the company’s system, which includes a grasper device and detachable tip, in 2016.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

A California Startup Wants To Revolutionize Surgery, With Magnets

A new magnetic surgical system allows surgeons to make fewer incisions and have better views during gallbladder removals

Stanford researcher Michael Snyder led a study on how wearable sensors could help predict illnesses.

What If an App Could Tell You When You’re Getting Sick?

A Stanford geneticist may be onto something. Body data collected by smartwatches and other sensors can tip us off to brewing colds or infections

Have Scientists Found a Way to Actually Reduce the Effects of Aging?

Researchers at the Salk Institute in California have successfully induced cells to behave like younger cells

Skeleton of the Trojan woman

New Research

Remains From 800-Year-Old “Trojan Woman” Record Early Maternal Infection

Bacterial nodes on the skeleton and DNA from her fetus show the woman likely died from an infection of her placenta

New Research

Turmeric May Be Tasty, But It’s Not a Cure-All

New study shoots down the trendy “remedy”

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