Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Welcome to The Deep End, a new podcast about brain implants and depression

    This new six-part podcast follows the lives of people with severe depression who volunteered for deep brain stimulation.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    A new kind of non-opioid painkiller gets FDA approval

    The new drug, called Journavx, is a non-opioid for treating short-term moderate to severe pain.

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  3. Neuroscience

    Scratching an itch is so good, and so bad

    The motion kicks off inflammation but may also combat harmful bacteria 

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Better male birth control is on the horizon

    Men have two birth control options: condoms and vasectomies. Why has it taken so long to develop more contraceptives?

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Can you actually die of a broken heart?

    Death by heartbreak doesn't just happen in stories. In real life, severe stress can cause the sometimes-fatal takotsubo syndrome.

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  6. Animals

    Fever’s link with a key kind of immunity is surprisingly ancient

    When sick, Nile tilapia seek warmer water. That behavioral fever triggers a specialized immune response, hinting the connection evolved long ago.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Trump is withdrawing the U.S. from WHO. Here’s what that means 

    When Trump’s move to leave WHO takes effect in a year, it may gut funding for global public health and limit U.S. access to crucial data, experts warn.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Cigarettes with less nicotine may help some smokers quit

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a rule to drastically reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes and other combusted tobacco products.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    What bird flu experts are watching for in 2025

    Since early 2024, the U.S. has logged 66 human cases of H5N1. Scientists are keeping a watchful eye on the virus’s spread as we enter a new year.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Lethal snake venom may be countered by new AI-designed proteins 

    The current way to produce antivenoms is antiquated. Experiments in mice suggest that an artificial intelligence approach could save time and money.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Obesity needs a new definition beyond BMI, health experts argue

    Experts say clinical obesity is more than a high BMI and instead is a disease in which excess body fat harms tissues, organs or doing daily activities.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Got a cold? A placebo might help

    Amid doubts over a common decongestant, evidence suggests the placebo effect can still help people suffering from a cold.

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