Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Indoor tanning ups all skin cancer rates

    Artificial sunbathing using ultraviolet lights increases the risk of all types of skin cancer.

    By Ben Harder
  2. Health & Medicine

    Alzheimer’s vaccine trial is suspended

    A drug company in Ireland has halted tests of an experimental vaccine for Alzheimer's disease.

    By John Travis
  3. Health & Medicine

    Vitamin Void: Heart disease may lurk in B12 deficiency

    Meatless eating typically improves cardiovascular health, but a dietary shortage of vitamin B12 may lead to an overabundance of the amino acid homocysteine in some vegetarians, which could pose a risk to their hearts.

    By Ben Harder
  4. Health & Medicine

    Antibody Warfare: Vaccine halts microbes in dialysis patients

    A vaccine protects many kidney-dialysis patients from blood infection caused by the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium.

    By Nathan Seppa
  5. Health & Medicine

    Low birth weight matters later, too

    Premature babies weighing less than 1.5 kilograms at birth grow up to have lower achievement scores on standard tests and are less likely to go to college than are full-term babies weighing more than twice as much.

    By Nathan Seppa
  6. Health & Medicine

    The Hunger Hormone?

    Scientists may have finally found the body’s dinner bell.

    By John Travis
  7. Health & Medicine

    Slowing lupus: Stifled inflammation limits kidney damage

    A new therapy for the autoimmune disease lupus works in mice by thwarting activation of immune-system proteins called complement.

    By Nathan Seppa
  8. Health & Medicine

    Taking a toll: Antiviral drugs activate immune system

    Promising antiviral drugs activate a key immune-system protein.

    By John Travis
  9. Health & Medicine

    Heart recipients add their own cells

    Transplanted hearts incorporate muscle and blood-vessel cells from their new host, suggesting that the heart may regenerate its own tissue.

    By Nathan Seppa
  10. Health & Medicine

    DREAMing away pain

    Mutant mice lacking a certain regulatory protein overproduce a natural opioid and are less sensitive to pain than are other mice.

    By John Travis
  11. Health & Medicine

    An El Niño link with a tropical disease?

    An analysis of recent outbreaks of an often fatal disease in Peru may strengthen a link between the malady and the warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean known as El Niño.

    By Sid Perkins
  12. Health & Medicine

    Compound mimics calorie restriction

    A new compound, part of a family of proteins that regulate fat transport, lowers the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes in monkeys.

    By Damaris Christensen