Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
Vaccine prevents urinary-tract infections
An experimental vaccine designed to repel 10 common bacteria that cause bladder infections has cleared a key hurdle by proving safe and effective in a group of women.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Virus Shapes Risk of Multiple Sclerosis
A huge, decade-long study bolsters the link between Epstein-Barr virus and the autoimmune disorder multiple sclerosis by showing that the common infection is more active in people who later develop symptoms of the disease.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Sometimes lying down is harder work
Squatting or standing might ease baby delivery by allowing the birth canal more room to expand.
- Health & Medicine
Ultrasound boosts drug delivery to tumors
A beam of ultrasound can make the blood vessels that infiltrate cancerous growths leakier than normal.
- Health & Medicine
Weak appetite in elderly ties to hormone
A hormone known to suppress appetite is more abundant in seniors than in young adults and has a greater effect in squelching hunger in elderly people.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Mice reveal the off switch for inflammation
Working with genetically engineered mice, scientists have identified a crucial natural mechanism that rodents use to shut down inflammation before it does harm.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Newfound flu protein may kill immune cells
A dash of serendipity led to the discovery of a new protein, produced by most strains of the influenza A virus.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Boost in protein repair extends fly lives
In warmer-than-normal conditions, fruit flies that overproduce a protein-repair enzyme live about one-third longer than typical flies.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Gene Therapy for Sickle-Cell Disease?
By adding a useful gene to offset the effects of a faulty one, scientists have devised a gene therapy that prevents sickle-cell anemia in mice.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Surprise! Fat proves a taste sensation
The share of consumed fat that travels into a person's bloodstream depends on whether the person tasted fat to begin with.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Delayed surgery aids spinal cord repair
Postponing surgery to repair a severed spinal cord in rats improves the likelihood that the operation will counteract the injury.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Low Radiation Hurts Bystander Cells
New research confirms that alpha particles from decaying radon atoms can damage neighboring cells they don't directly hit and suggests a mechanism for this so-called bystander effect.
By Ben Harder