Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Grim Reap Purr: Nursing home feline senses the end

    A nursing home cat in Rhode Island knows when the end is nigh, predicting with uncanny accuracy when residents will die.

    By Brian Vastag
  2. Health & Medicine

    Good Light: Sun early in life could protect against MS

    Childhood exposure to direct sunshine may protect people against developing multiple sclerosis later.

    By Nathan Seppa
  3. Health & Medicine

    Perception is longevity

    Mice lived longer when they were fooled into sensing lower insulin levels than they actually had.

    By Patrick Barry
  4. Health & Medicine

    Phytochemical Beauty

    Our Food For Thought column recently published two offerings on health-related findings about genistein, a soybean constituent. Ever wonder what that chemical looks like? Or how about capsaicin—the spicy agent in hot chilies being explored as a painkiller, lycopene—the red pigment in watermelons that may protect our skin against harmful ultraviolet rays, or sulforaphane—a trace […]

    By Science News
  5. Health & Medicine

    Brain Seasoning: A common spice could deter Alzheimer’s

    A compound in the curry spice turmeric restores the ability of immune system cells to destroy plaques linked to Alzheimer's disease.

    By Patrick Barry
  6. Health & Medicine

    Persistent Prions: Soilbound agents are more potent

    Prions, deformed proteins that cause brain-destroying diseases such as chronic wasting disease or mad cow disease, are more infectious when bound to soil particles.

    By Carolyn Barry
  7. Health & Medicine

    AIDS Abated: Genome scans illuminate immune control of HIV

    Three genetic variations picked out by powerful whole-genome scans help explain why some people develop AIDS quickly while others keep it at bay.

    By Brian Vastag
  8. Health & Medicine

    fryPod: Lightning strikes iPod users

    A jogger wearing an iPod music player suffered second-degree ear and neck burns, burst eardrums, and jaw fractures after lightning struck a nearby tree.

    By Brian Vastag
  9. Health & Medicine

    Brain stem cells help Parkinson’s monkeys

    Transplants of human-brain stem cells triggered signs of improvement in monkeys with a Parkinson's disease–like disorder.

    By Brian Vastag
  10. Health & Medicine

    Smoke This: Parkinson’s is rarer among tobacco users

    Life-long smoking cuts the chance of getting Parkinson's disease by about half.

    By Brian Vastag
  11. Health & Medicine

    Tumor Suicide: Gene therapy makes cancer cells self-destruct

    Microscopic bubbles of fat that deliver a suicide gene to tumor cells show success in treating pancreatic cancer in mice.

    By Patrick Barry
  12. Health & Medicine

    Hepatitis B drug creates HIV resistance

    A hepatitis B drug spurs resistance to HIV drugs in people infected with both diseases.

    By Carolyn Barry