Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Whooping cough shot shown safe for pregnant women

    Women who get a booster shot against whooping cough, or pertussis, during pregnancy don’t increase their risk of having a problem birth, and they boost their babies’ immunity to the disease.

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  2. Environment

    Thirdhand smoke poses lingering danger

    Harmful cigarette chemicals that linger on surfaces, known as thirdhand smoke, can go on to pollute the air and may harm people’s health.

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  3. Neuroscience

    For a friendlier zebra finch, just add stress

    Adding stress hormones to the diet of developing zebra finches produced birds that were social butterflies.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Uncommon malaria spreading in Malaysia

    Malaria parasite’s jump from monkeys to people seems aided by deforestation in Malaysia.

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  5. Materials Science

    Batteries become safe to swallow with spongy covering

    Quantum-inspired coating switches from a conductor to an insulator to prevent injury from swallowed batteries.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Snakebite test correctly IDs attackers in Nepal

    A new test that swabs for traces of snake DNA around bite marks can identify the guilty serpent and may improve treatments.

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  7. Genetics

    Genes influence Ebola’s impact

    A study in a diverse strain of mice shows how the effect of an Ebola infection can depend on genes.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Mushroom extract might eradicate HPV infection

    In a small trial, a nutritional supplement derived from shiitake mushrooms wiped out dormant human papillomavirus infections.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Dengue vaccine offers partial protection

    Shots reduce severe cases of dengue among children in large study in Latin America.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Increase in Denmark’s autism diagnoses caused by reporting changes

    Changes in how autism is detected and recorded explain 60 percent of the recent increase in diagnoses, a Danish study finds.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Moms are more likely than dads to chat with newborns

    Even when fathers are around, mothers tend to talk to their babies more and respond to infants’ vocalizations.

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  12. Chemistry

    Chemist tackles complex problems with simplicity

    Harvard chemist George Whitesides applies his unique problem-solving philosophy to creating new diagnostic devices for the developing world.

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