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Medicine

New York saw 4,500 annual cases by 1907. Mallon was linked to 47, and 3 deaths.

The Frightening Legacy of Typhoid Mary

With concerns about infectious disease in the news, a look back at history’s most famous carrier

New Research

Is That Pill a Placebo? This Program Can Tell, Even If You Can’t

A new algorithm could make it faster and less expensive to develop new painkillers

Imagining the future of artificial hearts.

Help for the Brokenhearted: Wearable, Biosynthetic and ‘Beatless’ Artificial Hearts

Cow-machine hybrids and continuous-flow technologies are helping people survive devastating heart failure

Don't try this at home.

The World of Chocolate

Healers Once Prescribed Chocolate Like Aspirin

From ancient Mesoamerica to Renaissance Europe, the modern confectionary treat has medical roots

Dabbling around for a meal.

Ducks Help Explain How We Feel All the Feels

Highly sensitive nerves in duck bills are offering clues to the way we experience the sense of touch

Trained in CPR? This Life-Saving App Could Make You a Superhero

When someone is experiencing cardiac arrest, PulsePoint sends alerts to CPR-certified invidividuals nearby

One of the HIV-prevention medications, a pill called Truvada

New Research

A Setback for HIV Prevention Trial: Getting People To Take the Medicine

Women didn’t take their preventative medications, even those proven to work, for fear of side effects

Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home

Cool Finds

Thomas Jefferson Conducted Early Smallpox Vaccine Trials

When an English doctor discovered a safer kind of immunity, someone had to spread the word to America

New Research

1 in 3 Would Rather Die Early Than Take a Daily Pill

New research shows a third of people would trade years of their life to avoid taking daily meds

Trending Today

Why One Nonprofit Wants You to Sell Them Your Poop

A qualified candidate could make thousands of dollars a year selling their waste to an organization preparing fecal transplants for the ill

In the garden, Levisticum is a tall plant with dark leaves and greenish-yellow flowers. Under a microscope, however, it can morph into a cellular rainbow. This image was made using polarized light to enhance contrast. Waves in polarized light share an orientation, and special filters can block out any unpolarized waves and make the fine details easier to see.

New Exhibit Showcases the Power of Light in Our Everyday Lives

The open-source show “LIGHT: Beyond the Bulb” crosses disciplines to show the many ways photonics has improved our lives

A nurse at the ELWA Ebola Treatment Unit in Monrovia, Liberia, picks up disinfected boots

Trending Today

There Aren’t Enough Patients for Ebola Drug’s First Clinical Trial

The developer called a halt after fewer than 10 people had been treated in the trial’s first month

Your big toe is an example of how "boundary conditions" can affect the curvature of a nail.

Toenail Physics Explains Why Big Toes Are More Likely to Suffer Ingrown Nails

The delicate balancing act between stresses of growth and adhesion can help demystify some painful nail disorders

New Research

Meet the Friendly Virus That Might Actually Be Good For You

Many people carry it, but it doesn’t make you sick and could actually fight against viruses like HIV and Ebola

A skull shows evidence of trepanation, an early form of neurosurgery that called for a hole cut into the skull.

New Research

Scientists Try Out 2,300-Year-Old Brain Surgery Techniques

Experiments conducted by a Siberian research team shed light on the neurosurgical methods evident in three Iron Age skulls

This temporary tattoo could save diabetics from the daily annoyance of pin pricks to their fingers.

Hacking the Human Body With Temporary Tattoos and Tiny Implants

Using electrical charges to treat diseases, from diabetes to obesity, is picking up speed

Trending Today

The Ohio Measles Outbreak Wasn’t Caused by “Anti-Vaxxers” But by an Amish Traveler

Blaming the anti-vaccination movement for an uptick in measles is oversimplification

New Research

Why “Expensive” Medicines Might Actually Work Better

Perceived cost might influence drugs’ benefits

SIRUM has facilitated the redistribution of 1 million pills to safety-net clinics to help serve about 20,000 patients in need.

Smart Startup

Three Stanford Graduates Are Matching Unused Prescriptions With Patients Who Need Them

Unopened drugs—billions of dollars worth—are trashed in this country each year. What if they instead went to the 50 million who can’t afford them?

The 2014-15 flu vaccine is here, but the CDC warns that it's not as effective as hoped.

A Universal Flu Vaccine May Be On the Horizon

Choosing the viral targets for the seasonal flu vaccine is a gamble. Sometimes, like this year, the flu wins

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