Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    Social distancing comes with psychological fallout

    Keeping people apart can help slow the new coronavirus’ spread. But such social distancing may cause or worsen mental health problems.

    By Sujata Gupta
  2. Health & Medicine

    How antibody tests work and could help fight the coronavirus

    Coronavirus antibody tests look for signs in the blood that someone has had an infection and recovered, and could take only a finger prick.

    By Dawn Fallik
  3. Health & Medicine

    Face mask shortages have sparked creative solutions. Will they work?

    Homemade masks, reusing masks and even scuba gear are some of the ideas for dealing with health care workers’ lack of supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    By Laura Sanders
  4. Health & Medicine

    There’s no evidence the coronavirus jumped from pangolins to people

    Pangolins captured in anti-smuggling activities in southern China were found to harbor viruses related to the new coronavirus.

    By Erin Garcia de Jesús
  5. Genetics

    No, the coronavirus wasn’t made in a lab. A genetic analysis shows it’s from nature

    Scientists took conspiracy theories seriously and analyzed the coronavirus to reveal its natural origins.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  6. Health & Medicine

    You can help fight the coronavirus. All you need is a computer

    With Folding@home, people can donate computing time on their home computers to the search for a chemical Achilles’ heel in the coronavirus.

    By Maria Temming
  7. Health & Medicine

    When will the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing end?

    Social distancing may have to continue for months to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19. Wider testing and isolation of cases could ease such measures.

    By Jonathan Lambert
  8. Health & Medicine

    Here’s where bacteria live on your tongue cells

    Scientists labeled bacteria from tongue scrapings with fluorescent probes to glimpse at how the microbes structure their communities.

    By Erin Garcia de Jesús
  9. Health & Medicine

    The number of steps per day, not speed, is linked to mortality rate

    Researchers report an association between the total number of steps a person takes each day and the rate of death from any cause.

    By Aimee Cunningham
  10. Health & Medicine

    A tooth-enamel protein is found in eyes with a common form of macular degeneration

    Researchers linked a tooth-enamel protein with calcium deposits in eyes suffering ‘dry’ AMD, which could lead to treatments for the vision disorder.

    By Alex Fox
  11. Health & Medicine

    Why some heart patients may be especially vulnerable to COVID-19

    Researchers don’t yet know if the way the coronavirus enters cells may have something to do with the risks to the heart.

    By Aimee Cunningham
  12. Health & Medicine

    Young adults can face severe cases of COVID-19, too

    While risk of having a severe case of COVID-19 rises with age, younger adults are also landing in the hospital and ICU, new U.S. statistics show.

    By Erin Garcia de Jesús