Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Passive smoking may foster kids’ cavities

    Young children exposed to tobacco smoke face a greatly elevated risk of developing cavities in their baby teeth.

    By Janet Raloff
  2. Health & Medicine

    Prenatal marijuana exposure may pose health risks

    Rats that were exposed to a marijuana-related chemical while in the womb show more memory lapses and hyperactivity than unexposed rats do.

    By Nathan Seppa
  3. Health & Medicine

    The Vaccinia Dilemma

    To inform the current debate on who should be vaccinated for smallpox given the possibility of—or in the event of—a bioterrorism attack, researchers are using mathematical models and data from vaccination campaigns and past smallpox outbreaks.

    By Ben Harder
  4. Health & Medicine

    Cranberry Juice—A Cocktail for the Heart

    Chemist Joe Vinson has a passion for foods and the potentially beneficial antioxidants they bring to the dinner table. Cranberry-juice cocktail contains just 27 percent berry juice but still is the second-most potent source of antioxidants among popular fruit juices. Cranberry Institute Three years ago, for instance, he reported data showing that molecule for molecule, […]

    By Janet Raloff
  5. Health & Medicine

    Morbid Mystery Tour: Epidemic from China is encircling globe

    An outbreak of deadly pneumonia that apparently began in southern China spread in March to at least two other continents, including North America.

    By Ben Harder
  6. Health & Medicine

    Protein protects rat brains from strokes

    Neuroglobin, a protein related to hemoglobin, may protect the brain during strokes.

    By John Travis
  7. Health & Medicine

    Molecule may protect against kidney damage

    People with a gene for the protein called apoE-IV are less likely to have the dangerous complication of kidney failure after a heart-bypass operation than are people who make other versions of the protein.

    By Nathan Seppa
  8. Health & Medicine

    Plot thickens for blood pressure drugs

    A new study counters a recent report that diuretics taken for high blood pressure protect against heart problems better than newer, more expensive drugs.

    By Nathan Seppa
  9. Health & Medicine

    More than a Kick

    Nicotine ramps up activity throughout the body, making the drug a suspect in many tobacco-related ailments.

    By Kendall Morgan
  10. Health & Medicine

    Perk Up Food Flavors with. . .Black Plastic? (with pesto recipe)

    Pesto, a zesty sauce for pasta and spread for crusty breads, typically derives much of its flavor from basil. The fresher this herb, the richer the pesto’s flavor–which is why many people with a pesto passion keep a basil patch outside the kitchen door. USDA scientists compare the yield and quality of identical crop cultivars […]

    By Janet Raloff
  11. Health & Medicine

    Soy Land, Soy Land

    Field of soy in the American Midwest. Having grown up in the heart of the Corn Belt, I can remember childhood visits to kin requiring car rides for hours past fields planted with razor-sharp rows of maize. Even as a preschooler, it was reassuring because I could relate to corn. It was that delicious stuff […]

    By Janet Raloff
  12. Health & Medicine

    Academic Impacts of Vegetarian Childhoods

    Teens are always looking for creative excuses for late homework, low test scores, and waning attention in class. Any who stumbled onto a copy of the September American Journal of Clinical Nutrition may have uncovered the basis for a particularly novel rationalization: “My parents made me a vegetarian.” Plants do not make vitamin B-12, also […]

    By Janet Raloff