Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    A Carrot Rainbow (with recipe)

    There are more than aesthetic benefits from looking beyond orange when it comes to selecting carrots.

    By Janet Raloff
  2. Health & Medicine

    Lingering Loss: In 2-year diet trial, new pill keeps off weight

    Obese adults who lose weight during a year of taking an experimental diet drug, rimonabant, and dieting keep the weight off during the following year, if they continue the regimen.

    By Ben Harder
  3. Health & Medicine

    Problems for Preemies: Early birth is linked to insulin overproduction

    Children born prematurely are more likely than their full-term counterparts to develop insulin resistance, a marker for diabetes.

    By Nathan Seppa
  4. Health & Medicine

    Staph receptor as drug target

    A receptor molecule on the surface of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus might present an exploitable weak spot in the microbe's defenses.

    By Nathan Seppa
  5. Health & Medicine

    A vaccine for cervical cancer

    A vaccine against human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, has proved 94 percent effective in preventing the virus from infecting women.

    By Nathan Seppa
  6. Health & Medicine

    Vaccine Stretch: Smaller dose packs punch against flu

    A fraction of the standard dose of flu vaccine appears to grant people immunity to influenza if injected into the skin rather than in the muscle of the upper arm.

    By David Shiga
  7. Health & Medicine

    Uranium, the newest ‘hormone’

    Animal experiments indicate that waterborne uranium can mimic the activity of estrogen, a female sex hormone.

    By Janet Raloff
  8. Health & Medicine

    Heavy traffic may trigger heart attacks

    Exposure to traffic can dramatically increase a person's risk of having a heart attack soon afterward.

    By Diana Parsell
  9. Health & Medicine

    Vegetable Soup Fights Cell Damage

    A study in which volunteers ate vegetable soup every day for two weeks points to benefits of vitamin C beyond its role as an antioxidant.

    By Diana Parsell
  10. Health & Medicine

    Assault on Autism

    A shift in scientific thinking about what causes autism is prompting a closer look at potential environmental factors.

    By Diana Parsell
  11. Health & Medicine

    Persistent Cough: Pertussis rises in young adults and infants

    Pertussis, or whooping cough, appears to be rebounding in many age groups, causing long-lasting symptoms in adolescents and adults and threatening the lives of unvaccinated infants.

    By Ben Harder
  12. Health & Medicine

    Nicotine’s Good Side: Substance curbs sepsis in mice

    Nicotine halted the progression of severe sepsis in mice, suggesting a new avenue for treating this acute blood infection.

    By Diana Parsell