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Health

Manu Prakesh spins his Paperfuge

New Research

How a Children’s Toy Could Help Fight Malaria

A 20-cent whirligig-like centrifuge could help doctors in remote regions diagnose disease

MIT professor Li-Huei Tsai may have a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

Could Flickering Lights Help Treat Alzheimer’s?

A flashy MIT study changes perspective on the disease

If only the three blind mice had enjoyed access to 21st century retinal transplant technology.

New Research

These Blind Mice Just Got a Vision Boost Thanks to a New Transplant Technique. Could Blind Humans Be Next?

Transplanting an entire piece of retinal tissue into the eyes of blind mice appears to work better than just transplanting cells

The warning label on cartons of duty-free cigarettes in Munich, Germany circa 2006.

People Have Tried to Make U.S. Cigarette Warning Labels More Graphic for Decades

On this day in 1964, the surgeon general officially said that smoking causes cancer. But warning labels in America still don’t show its effects

Are stem cells the solution?

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Tear Your Meniscus? This “Living Bandage” May Help

British researchers are using a newly patented technique involving stem cells to repair the common knee injury

China has vowed to build over 50,000 new toilets and refurbish 100,000 more in a bid to improve sanitation for tourists.

Trending Today

China Will Transform 100,000 Toilets for the Sake of Tourism

Officials vow to flush out outmoded commodes

J. Calvin Coffey holds up a model of the mesentery

New Research

Meet Your Newest Organ: The Mesentery

Scientists are calling for an upgrade in classification of this vital gut membrane

According to one group, animals consume eight times more antibiotics than human beings each year.

It Just Got Harder to Give Antibiotics to Farm Animals

New regulations take aim at antibiotic resistance

The journals that scientists consider most prestigious are often in English.

New Research

English Is the Language of Science. That Isn’t Always a Good Thing

How a bias toward English-language science can result in preventable crises, duplicated efforts and lost knowledge

Leah Desrochers, a former employee of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, holds a stranded Kemp's ridley sea turtle.

Why Are Endangered Sea Turtles Showing Up Cold and Seemingly Lifeless on Northeastern Shores?

In the past three decades, scientists have confronted a worsening epidemic of stranded Kemp’s ridley sea turtles

Dyslexia affects up to 17 percent of American schoolchildren. Researchers now believe it may be caused by difficulty in the brain rewiring itself.

New Research

Dyslexia May Be the Brain Struggling to Adapt

The learning disorder may be less a problem with language processing, and more a problem with the brain rewiring itself

Hamblin's new book uses illustrations to help explain how the human body works—and sometimes doesn't work.

The Millennial’s Doctor Releases a Handbook on Bodies

Radiologist and Atlantic editor James Hamblin provides the answers we’d hear “If Our Bodies Could Talk”

Your breath might be bad, but it's also amazing.

New Research

Your Breath Does More Than Repulse—It Can Also Tell Doctors Whether You Have Cancer

An artificial “nose” could be the next tool for diagnosing illnesses from cancer to Crohn’s disease

Violence can spread like an epidemic among impressionable teenagers, according to new research.

New Research

Violence Among Teens Can Spread Like a Disease, Study Finds

Surveys of thousands of American teens add evidence to the theory that violence spreads in communities like a contagion

How do you know when urine too deep?

New Research

Once a Year, Scientific Journals Try to Be Funny. Not Everyone Gets the Joke

Holiday editions add a much-needed dose of humor to boring journal-ese. But is entertaining readers worth the risk of misleading them?

Flickering images can induce seizures in people with epilepsy.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Why Do Flashing Images Cause Seizures?

For people with epilepsy, a flashing screen can be more than a passing annoyance

New Research

The Pokémon GO Craze Had Health Benefits—For a Little While

Though avid players walked about 11 extra minutes per day, the boost only lasted around six weeks

A bonfire of elephant ivory burns in Kenya's Nairobi National Park in July 1989.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Wondering What a Bonfire Does to Your Lungs? We Answer Your Burning Questions

Setting large piles of stuff aflame can have significant environmental and human health impacts

New Research

Caesarean Births Could Be Affecting Human Evolution

But it’s too soon to know for sure

A new study on pilots' mental health suggests the skies may not be that friendly after all.

New Research

Think Your Job Is Depressing? Try Being an Airline Pilot

New study suggests pilots are more depressed than the average American

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