Tag Archives: health

Around 8 million people in the United States rely on insulin to manage their diabetes, but steady price increases have made the life-saving medicine increasingly more difficult to afford. As many as one in four insulin users have reported having to skip doses or use less of the drug than …

Stanley, maker of reusable water bottles and cups, seems to be in hot water. Just a few weeks ago, people were lining up to buy the giant collectible Stanley cups, but since then there's been a U-turn. Videos of Stanley cup owners testing theirs for lead with at-home kits have …

Born deaf, the 1-year-old boy had never responded to sound or speech before. But after receiving an experimental treatment injected into one of his ears, he started turning his head when his parents called his name. Five months later, he spoke his first words. The boy is one of six …

Malaria expert Brian Greenwood had once resigned himself to the possibility that a successful vaccine for the disease might not become available in his lifetime. Now, at 86 years old, the moment he’s spent four decades working toward has arrived. “It’s been a long journey with many ups and downs,” …

In 2024, the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in the United States and the United Kingdom will grow, although postmortem reviews conclude that 80 percent of maternal deaths in high-income countries are preventable. Rates in high-income countries across Western Europe and Asia did decrease between 1990 and 2010, yet in some …

Surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania announced today that they successfully attached a genetically altered pig liver to a brain-dead person and found that the organ functioned normally for 72 hours. The experiment represents a step toward using pig organs to help extremely ill patients with failing livers. The researchers …

A new public information campaign against cultivated—or “lab-grown”—meat is being run by a group with close links to a controversial public relations firm. The group has launched TV adverts and a website purportedly to educate the public about cultivated meat, but its approach—which draws on a PR playbook previously used …

In recent months, Naveed Ijaz, a general practitioner specializing in dermatology, has seen a growing number of patients presenting at his clinic in Manchester, UK, with intensely itchy rashes. Their cause is scabies, a highly contagious skin condition caused by the Sarcoptes scabiei mite, which can result in these itchy …

When Bobi, the world’s oldest dog, died in October 2023, the outpouring of grief online was immediate. But it wasn’t long before that sadness turned to suspicion, as experts raised doubts about whether the Portuguese dog really did make it to 31 years and 163 days. In December, a (totally …

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. From the moment you swallow a bite of food to the moment it exits your body, the gut is toiling to process this strange outside material. It has to break chunks down into small bits. It must distinguish healthy nutrients …