Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Omicron forces us to rethink COVID-19 testing and treatments

    At-home rapid tests may miss the speedy variant early on, and some treatments, such as some monoclonal antibodies, no longer work.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    ‘Blastoids’ made of stem cells offer a new way to study fertility

    Newly created “blastoids” could help with research on nonhormonal contraceptives and fertility treatments.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    The coronavirus may cause fat cells to miscommunicate, leading to diabetes

    Researchers are homing in on a surprising cause of high blood sugar in COVID-19 patients and possibly what to do about it.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    The omicron variant is surging. Here’s what we’ve learned so far

    Omicron is better at evading virus-attacking antibodies than previous coronavirus variants, but there are signs booster shots might help curb symptoms.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    COVID-19 testing is complicated right now. Here are answers to 6 big questions

    There are two major categories of COVID-19 diagnostic tests. Here’s what you need to know when deciding whether to take an at-home test or head to the doctor.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    These are the viruses that mRNA vaccines may take on next

    Now that mRNA vaccines have proved effective against the coronavirus, scientists are taking aim at influenza, HIV and other viruses.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    The CDC recommends mRNA COVID-19 vaccines over J&J’s, citing fewer risks

    Pfizer’s and Moderna's vaccines are more effective and cause fewer serious side effects than Johnson & Johnson’s jab, new data show.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Why it matters that health agencies finally said the coronavirus is airborne

    Recognizing that the coronavirus spreads through the air reinforced the importance of wearing masks and altered public health recommendations.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Why the coronavirus’s delta variant dominated 2021

    Mapping delta’s unique group of mutations and how they enhance the virus’s life cycle show why the variant spread so easily and caused so much havoc.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    In 2021, COVID-19 vaccines were put to the test. Here’s what we learned

    Vaccines can’t single-handedly end the pandemic, but they are still essential in the fight against the coronavirus.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    How sleep may boost creativity

    In a lab experiment, people who had fallen into a shallow sleep were more likely than non- or deep sleepers to later discover a sly math trick.

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  12. Microbes

    A bacteria-virus arms race could lead to a new way to treat shigellosis

    As bacteria that cause shigellosis evolve to escape a virus, the microbes may become less deadly, a hopeful sign for “phage therapy.”

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