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Medicine

Human wounds take longer to heal than the wounds of other mammals, researchers find. That could be because we have fewer hair follicles, and stem cells in hair follicles help regrow skin after an injury.

Human Evolution Traded Fur for Sweat Glands—and Now, Our Wounds Take Longer to Heal Than Those of Other Mammals

Even compared to chimpanzees, one of our closest relatives, humans’ scrapes and cuts tend to stick around for more than twice as long, new research suggests

Psychiatric neurosurgery, originally known as psychosurgery, involves operating on the brain to alter its function.

What Does the Future Hold for Psychiatric Brain Surgery?

For some patients, removing brain tissue can help treat OCD and other disorders. But ethical concerns remain

A cell culture plate with pluripotent stem cells, which can differentiate into any kind of cell in the body.

Stem Cell Therapies Could Treat Parkinson’s Disease by Rebuilding Lost Circuitry in the Brain, Studies Suggest

Two small clinical trials tested the safety of injecting stem cells into the brains of Parkinson’s patients and found no adverse effects

Researchers Daniel Cerveny and Marcus Michelangeli collecting salmon from the Dal River in Sweden.

Salmon Are Being Exposed to Our Anti-Anxiety Medication, and It’s Making Them Take More Risks, Study Suggests

Atlantic salmon exposed to a common anti-anxiety drug migrate faster, according to new research. That’s not necessarily a good thing

Many teens have shared videos on social media showing their use of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, which is sold in small metal canisters.

The Long, Strange History of Nitrous Oxide, a Popular Drug Users Have Been Inhaling for Hundreds of Years

Galaxy Gas has brought the drug back into the spotlight, and scientists are raising alarms about its health risks

Illustration of a human cancer cell

How Do Cancer Cells Migrate to New Tissues and Take Hold?

Scientists are looking for answers about how these confounding trips, known as metastases, occur throughout the human body

Rebecca Lee Crumpler's gravestone was only installed in 2020, 125 years after her death in 1895.

Women Who Shaped History

The Nation’s First Black Female Doctor Blazed a Path for Women in Medicine. But She Was Left Out of the Story for Decades

After earning a medical degree in 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler died in obscurity and was buried without a headstone

Chloe Yehwon Lee was a finalist in the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search, the most distinguished STEM competition for high school seniors in the United States.

This 17-Year-Old Scientist Is Making an Acetaminophen Alternative That Is Less Damaging to the Liver

Chloe Yehwon Lee’s research could change the painkiller, known by the brand name Tylenol, for the better, ultimately reducing emergency room visits and cases of liver failure

More than a third of endometriosis patients are misdiagnosed with mental health conditions.

For Some Women With Serious Physical Ailments, Mental Illness Has Become a Scapegoat Diagnosis

Patients with difficult-to-diagnose conditions like endometriosis are often sent home with diagnoses like anxiety or bipolar disorder

Developed by Australian biomedical engineer Daniel Timms, the titanium heart device is being used as a stopgap until patients can undergo transplant surgery with a donor heart.

Australian Man Makes History by Living With a Titanium Heart for More Than 100 Days Before Receiving a Transplant

The man, who was in his 40s and suffering from severe heart failure, was also the first person to leave the hospital with a titanium heart. He is recovering well after getting a new, donor heart

Surgeons operated on three patients in Canada.

Surgeons Are Conducting Rare ‘Tooth-in-Eye’ Surgeries to Restore Vision to Blind Patients in Canada

The complex procedure involves extracting a patient’s canine tooth, adding a plastic optical lens to it and surgically embedding it in the eye

Transplanting pig organs into people may soon become routine.

The Future of Transplanting Pig Organs in People

After years of research into xenotransplantation, the field is at a turning point—yet risks and ethical issues remain

A new study suggests lab mice will open the mouths and pull on the tongues of their unconscious companions.

Lab Mice Appear to Offer ‘First Aid’ Care to Their Unconscious Companions, Even Pulling on Their Tongues

A new study finds that mice will sniff, lick and pull the tongue of other mice that are under anesthesia, serving to open their airways

European Space Agency astronaut John McFall tests his prosthesis fit in simulated microgravity.

The World’s First Astronaut With a Physical Disability Is Cleared for Long-Duration Space Missions

Paralympian John McFall has passed all the required medical exams and is now eligible for future travel to the ISS with the European Space Agency

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The Talented and Valiant Female Surgeon Who Joined Allied Forces in WWII and Broke Barriers Along the Way

Prohibited from serving with the U.S. Army as a medical officer, Barbara Stimson was commissioned by the British—and helped open the American military to female doctors

Doctors at NYU Langone Health recently performed a transplant surgery using a gene-edited pig kidney. The patient, Towana Looney, is now more than two months out from surgery and recovering well,

FDA Approves Transplant Trials for Gene-Edited Pig Kidneys

Two biotechnology companies will begin testing the procedures in patients suffering from kidney failure

Researchers found higher levels of microplastics in brain tissue than in liver and kidney tissue.

The Human Brain May Contain as Much as a Spoon’s Worth of Microplastics, New Research Suggests

The amount of microplastics in the human brain appears to be increasing over time: Concentrations rose by roughly 50 percent between 2016 and 2024, according to a new study

Researchers are investigating oyster "blood" as a potential new treatment for antimicrobial-resistant pathogens.

Oyster ‘Blood’ May Be the Secret Weapon in Our Fight Against Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs, Study Finds

In lab experiments, a protein found in the Sydney rock oyster made some antibiotics more effective and killed several types of illness-causing bacteria

The dye, chemically known as erythrosine, has been used since 1907 to give candies, drinks and other foods their vibrant red color.

FDA Bans Red Dye No. 3 From Food, Beverages and Ingested Drugs, Citing Link to Cancer in Lab Rats

The synthetic additive found in thousands of food products will now be phased out by 2027, but advocates say the agency’s move is long overdue

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia.

U.S. Dementia Cases Are Poised to Rise to One Million Each Year by 2060, According to New Projections

As the American population ages, a new study finds the average lifetime risk of dementia for adults over 55 is around 42 percent—a higher rate than previously thought

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