Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
The (almost non-existent) science of potty training
When it comes to toilet training your child, science will offer you almost no help whatsoever.
- Microbes
Speedy test could improve treatment of urinary tract infections
A new test for drug-resistant bacteria may speed the diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract infections.
By Nsikan Akpan - Health & Medicine
Viruses can zoom through workplaces in hours
A virus on an office door handle can spread to more than half the people working there within a few hours.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Injectable flu drug could add to weapons against infection
The experimental drug, given in a single shot, could prove useful in the event of a lethal flu pandemic.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Autism treatment for babies shows promise in small study
A small study finds that changing how parents interact with infants may reduce autism symptoms.
- Health & Medicine
Two-part vaccine protects monkeys from Ebola
An experimental vaccine protected macaques from infection with the Ebola virus up to 10 months after receiving the two-shot regimen.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Test Ebola treatments to be rushed to West Africa
The World Health Organization has announced that it will use test treatments in West Africa starting this fall.
- Genetics
A story about why people get fat may be just that
In this issue, reporters look at efforts to find the genes that could be responsible for the obesity crisis and how evolution acts on diseases such as Ebola and tuberculosis.
By Eva Emerson - Genetics
Ancient famine-fighting genes can’t explain obesity
Scientists question the long-standing notion that adaptation — specifically the evolution of genes that encourage humans to hold on to fat so they can survive times of famine — has driven the obesity crisis.
By Laura Beil - Health & Medicine
Trial drug improves heart failure patients’ chance of survival
Novartis’ experimental therapy LCZ696 lowers blood pressure and increases survival rates when compared with a standard drug.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
A hungry brain slurps up a kid’s energy
Compared with other animals, human children take their time growing up. A new study suggests that’s because kids’ brains burn a lot of energy, perhaps diverting resources from their growing bodies.
- Health & Medicine
Removing both breasts may not boost cancer survival
Women diagnosed with cancer in one breast who choose to have both breasts removed may not have better survival rates than women who opt for breast-conserving surgery and radiation.