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Medicine

Bottle of Diphtheria Anti-Toxin in Case, 1900s

The Next Pandemic

How Vaccines, a Collective Triumph of Modern Medicine, Conquered the World’s Diseases

Smithsonian curators present a virtual tour of several objects from the collections that revolutionized public health care

A statue of goddess Durga in Kolkata — India was the location of the first recorded nose job

Cool Finds

The Nose Job Dates Back to the 6th Century B.C.

But for a long time, the nose was built up instead of shaved down

Jaundice is usually treated with short-wave blue light.

The Innovative Spirit

These Plastic Canopies Could Save Thousands of Babies

Researchers have developed sunlight-filtering canopies as a low-tech treatment for jaundice in newborns

Mayapple plant

Innovative Spirit Health Care

Scientists Manipulate Common Plants to Produce Cancer Drugs

Stanford researchers have figured out how to transfer a rare plant’s chemical “assembly line” into a cheap, common lab plant

This pig could be growing a heart or lungs for a transplant.

The Innovative Spirit

The Future of Animal-to-Human Organ Transplants

Could a genetically engineered pig heart one day function in a person?

Innovative Spirit Health Care

How Is Brain Surgery Like Flying? Put On a Headset to Find Out

A device made for gaming helps brain surgeons plan and execute delicate surgeries with extreme precision

The Innovative Spirit

This Exoskeleton Is Actually Controlled by the Wearer’s Thoughts

Engineer Jose Contreras-Vidal’s “brain-machine interface” uses electrical activity in a person’s brain to move a robotic exoskeleton

Trending Today

Why A Single Vial Of Antivenom Can Cost $14,000

It’s not because all antivenom is expensive to make.

Nima food allergen detector

The Innovative Spirit

Test Your Restaurant Meal for Allergens in Two Minutes

Nima, a handheld food analyzer, can test for gluten on the spot

Charles Lindbergh was the innovator and designer of the perfusion pump.

The Innovative Spirit

To Save His Dying Sister-In-Law, Charles Lindbergh Invented a Medical Device

The famous aviator’s biography is incomplete without the story of how the aviator worked to perfect his glass-chambered perfusion pump

Innovative Spirit Health Care

Can This App Predict Your Headache?

Migraine Buddy is one of a growing number of apps that use big data to help consumers manage their health issues

New Research

This Box Can Bring Dead Hearts Back To Life

The device could widen pool for heart transplants, but raises ethical questions

How does skin heal? You'll never look at a scab the same way again.

Ask Smithsonian

Ask Smithsonian: How Does Skin Heal?

The skin is an organ system that is unique to each individual, so not everyone heals the same way

Sure, it looks cute now, but a new study explores why babies influence their moms' DNA for years.

New Research

Baby’s Cells Can Manipulate Mom’s Body for Decades

An evolutionary approach may help scientists understand why mothers become genetic chimeras and how that affects their health

Knut, the star of the Berlin Zoo, died due to swelling in his brain.

New Research

Knut the Polar Bear’s Mysterious Death Finally Solved

The famed Berlin Zoo bear suffered from an autoimmune disease that until now has only been known to occur in humans

Doomsday mushrooms?

Anthropocene

Death By Fungus, and Other Fun Facts About Fungal Friends and Foes

This Generation Anthropocene episode highlights oft overlooked organisms that may help us better understand human impacts

Alexander Niculescu and his colleagues at Indiana University have found a way to identify, with more than 90 percent accuracy, patients who will have suicidal thoughts in the next year.

Innovative Spirit Health Care

A Blood Test and App May Help Identify Patients at Risk of Suicide

With blood biomarkers and a questionnaire, researchers at Indiana University claim they can pinpoint patients who will have suicidal thoughts within a year

On August 29, 1985, Michael Drummond became the sixth person, and the youngest, to be implanted with an artificial heart.

The Innovative Spirit

Thirty Years Ago, an Artificial Heart Helped Save a Grocery Store Manager

The Smithsonian, home to the Jarvik 7 and a host of modern chest-pumping technologies, has a lot of (artificial) heart

Innovative Spirit Health Care

The Future of 3D-Printed Pills

Now that the FDA has approved Spritam, an anti-seizure drug and the first 3D-printed pill, what’s next?

Head lice crawl across a nit comb and into your nightmares.

New Research

Lice That Can Resist Drugs Have Infested Half the States in the U.S.

Mutated pests that can survive common drugstore treatments have been found in at least 25 states so far

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