Laura Beil

Laura Beil

Contributing Correspondent

Laura Beil is an independent journalist specializing in medicine, health policy and science. She was the recipient of the Victor Cohn Prize for Medical Science Reporting in 2018. In addition to being a contributing correspondent at Science News, her work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Reader's Digest, Men's Health, and other magazines. She began freelancing in 2007 after working as medical writer for the Dallas Morning News from 1992 to 2006. In 2018, she reported and hosted the podcast Dr. Death, which has been downloaded more than 50 million times.

All Stories by Laura Beil

  1. Health & Medicine

    Marathoners’ hearts stressed, but not necessarily by heart attacks

    Detailed imaging of runners’ hearts before and after races doesn’t find signatures of heart attacks

  2. Health & Medicine

    Mummies reveal heart disease plagued ancient Egyptians

    CT scans of preserved individuals show hardening of arteries similar to that seen in people today.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Heart attack patients get high radiation dose

    Medical imaging can add up to exposure similar to what nuclear power plant workers experience.

  4. Health & Medicine

    B vitamin outperforms another drug in keeping arteries clear

    The findings led to an early halt of a small study comparing Niaspan and Zetia, two compounds commonly used along with statins to reduce heart attack risk.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Chill-out device may protect brain during heart attacks

    A portable method to quickly lower body temperature passes safety tests

  6. Little by Little

    As food allergies proliferate, new strategies may help patients ingest their way to tolerance.

  7. Serotonin: What the gut feeds the bones

    Chemical messenger plays a surprising role in determining the strength of the skeleton.

  8. Life

    Mitochondria Gone Bad

    Problems in the cell’s energy factories power new ideas on disease and aging.

  9. Chemistry

    Nicotine’s new appeal

    Mimicking the addictive compound’s action in the brain could lead to new drugs for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and schizophrenia.

  10. Life

    Gene linked to commitment-phobia

    A common gene variation in men is linked to marital crises and less bonding in a study of more than 500 long-term couples.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Weighty Evidence

    Connections between the family of insulin hormones and cancer have been suspected for more than 2 decades, and today, drug companies are testing anticancer drugs based on the actions of an insulin cousin.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Blind Bet

    Although the chances of success are far from certain, many desperate horse owners are gambling on stem cell therapy for their injured equine friends.