Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
Guilt by Association: Whole-genome scans yield disease clues
In a sweeping demonstration of the power of the new biology, researchers have linked two dozen genetic variations to six major diseases.
By Brian Vastag - Health & Medicine
Animal-to-human diseases could be right at home
A new map of where SARS or Ebola might erupt next highlights North America and Western Europe as likely sources.
By Brian Vastag - Health & Medicine
Beware the bats
Fruit bats in Bangladesh regularly trigger small outbreaks of Nipah virus, a measleslike pathogen that causes brain inflammation and death.
By Brian Vastag - Health & Medicine
Phages break up plaques
Phages, viruses that infect bacteria, dissolve plaques in the brains of mice with an Alzheimer's-like disease.
By Brian Vastag - Health & Medicine
Sticky treatment for staph infections
Honey from New Zealand gums up bacteria, offering a potential new means of combating difficult-to-treat infections.
By Brian Vastag - Health & Medicine
Tea—Milking It
Adding milk doesn't diminish tea's antioxidant bounty, research finds.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Visualizing Cancer: Images of tumors can detect gene expression
Subtle features in X-ray images of tumors let radiologists infer which genes are active in the cancerous growth.
- Health & Medicine
Early Start: Fetuses generate immune response to vaccination
A fetus can manufacture immune cells and antibodies in direct response to vaccine given to the mother during pregnancy.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Stem cells not required
Insulin-producing cells in the pancreas proliferate by cell division, unlike other body tissues, which regenerate from adult stem cells.
- Health & Medicine
Circadian Fix: Viagra may lessen effects of jet lag
Sildenafil, the male-impotence drug marketed as Viagra, helps laboratory rodents recovery from circadian disruptions similar to jet lag.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Chocolate Constituent Bests Fluoride
The beans used to make chocolate can also render a tooth-decay-fighting extract; unfortunately, it's bitter, not chocolaty.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Nail-gun injuries shoot up
Nail-gun injuries among do-it-yourself carpenters have tripled since 1991.
By Nathan Seppa