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Heart

Compared to traditional open-heart surgery, TAVR is a relatively simple procedure that finds cardiologists using a catheter to insert a replacement valve

This Minimally Invasive Technique Could Reduce the Need for Open-Heart Surgery

Clinical trials suggest TAVR is just as beneficial as, or perhaps even better than, open-heart surgery for low- and high-risk patients alike

Art Meets Science

A New Project Weaves Patient Stories Into Art

A bioengineer collaborates with artists, clinicians and patients to come up with an art exhibition with heart

New Research

Gene Editing Treats Muscular Dystrophy in Dogs

CRISPR gene editing has relieved symptoms of a canine version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in four puppies, raising hope for humans

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

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

Why We Should Test Heart Drugs On a ‘Virtual Human’ Instead of Animals

Thousands of animals are used for heart drug tests each year—but research shows that computer-simulated trials are more accurate

New Research

Narwhals Have a Strange Stress Response

When the creatures are frightened, they both flee and freeze

Chopin at 25, by his fiancée Maria Wodzińska.

Chopin’s Preserved Heart May Offer Clues About His Death

Scientists who recently examined the organ have suggested that Chopin died of complications from tuberculosis

A statue of Frank Pantridge outside the Lisburn Civic Centre in Northern Ireland. His defibrillator sits beside him.

The Irish Cardiologist Whose Invention Saved LBJ

Frank Pantridge miniaturized the defibrillator, making it portable

Irregular heart rhythms

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Turning Irregular Heartbeats Into Music

A set of piano pieces could help doctors better understand heart rhythm disorders

A cocktail of steroids and vitamin C, often found in citrus and leafy green produce, might hold the key to treating sepsis. Or, clinical trials might prove it overhyped.

New Research

Could Vitamin C Be the Cure for Deadly Infections?

A new protocol that includes this common nutrient could save millions of lives—and has already sparked a raging debate among doctors

Cyanobacteria, sometimes known as blue-green algae, are single-celled organisms that use photosynthesis to produce food just like plants do.

New Research

Need to Fix a Heart Attack? Try Photosynthesis

Injecting plant-like creatures into a rat’s heart can jumpstart the recovery process, study finds

New Research

Researchers Turn Spinach Leaves Into Beating Heart Tissues

These living leaves could eventually become patches for the human heart

While the peaks and valleys on people's ECGs may look identical to the untrained eye, they’re actually anything but.

Using Your Heartbeat as a Password

Researchers have developed a way of turning the unique rhythms of your heart into a form of identification

An early cotton-candy machine.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

People at the 1904 World’s Fair Paid Half the Price of Admission for a Box of Cotton Candy

Celebrating cotton candy’s sugary, innovative goodness

A Jarvik-7 artificial heart in the Smithsonian's collection.

Remembering Barney Clark, Whose Ethically Questionable Heart Transplant Advanced Science

Three decades ago, a dentist agreed to receive the first artificial heart. And then things went downhill

Take heart: researchers are probing how the hard-hearted get that way, and whether they can be turned back.

New Research

How the Heart Hardens, Biologically

With age and injury, the soft tissues of the heart can turn to bone. Can this deadly process be reversed?

Flatline on a heart monitor

The Lazarus Phenomenon, Explained: Why Sometimes, the Deceased Are Not Dead, Yet

What does CPR have to do with the curious case of clinically dead patients coming “back to life”?

New Research

How a Metronome Could Save a Life

An simple device could help save lives by keeping CPR on the beat

Heart Valves at the National Museum of American History

Innovative Spirit Health Care

A Man With a Lot of Heart Valves Donates His Unusual Collection

Minneapolis entrepreneur Manny Villafana says his collection at the American History Museum is filled with stories of both failure and success

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