Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Air pollution is shaving a year off our average life expectancy

    The first country-by-country look at how dirty air affects when we die shows it can have more impact on mortality than breast or lung cancer.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    There’s a new cervical cancer screening option

    Women now have another choice for cervical cancer screening: getting an HPV test alone every five years.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Cancer drugs may help the liver recover from common painkiller overdoses

    Experimental anticancer drugs may help the liver recover after acetaminophen poisoning.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    A resurrected gene may protect elephants from cancer

    Researchers have found another gene that may play a role in explaining elephants’ cancer resistance.

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  5. Neuroscience

    Strange brains offer a glimpse into the mind

    A close look at unusual brains offers a way to understand how the human mind is constructed, two new books argue.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    The first gene-silencing drug wins FDA approval

    The FDA just approved the first drug that works via RNA interference.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Pregnant women’s use of opioids is on the rise

    The rate of opioid use during pregnancy more than quadrupled in 28 U.S. states, prompting physicians to call for increased screening.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    A newly approved drug could be a boon for treating malaria

    Tafenoquine could help prevent the recurring form of malaria, but the drug may also be dangerous for people who have a certain genetic mutation.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Zika may harm nearly 1 in 7 babies exposed to the virus in the womb

    A new CDC report tallies neurological and developmental problems, in addition to birth defects, possibly due to Zika in U.S. territory–born babies.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Scientists successfully transplant lab-grown lungs into pigs

    Pigs implanted with lab-grown lungs recovered from surgery with no breathing problems.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Rat lungworm disease is popping up in the mainland United States

    A disease caused by a parasite endemic to Asia sickened at least 12 people in eight states in the continental United States from 2011 to 2017.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Hurricane Maria’s death toll in Puerto Rico topped 1,100, a new study says

    According to data from the Puerto Rico vital statistics system, Hurricane Maria killed an estimated 1,139 people.

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