US dodged a bird flu pandemic in 1957 thanks to eggs and dumb luck – with a new strain spreading fast, will Americans get lucky again?

In recent months, Americans looking for eggs have faced empty shelves in their grocery stores. The escalating threat of avian flu has forced farmers to kill millions of chickens to…

What the ‘moral distress’ of doctors tells us about eroding trust in health care

I sit on an ethics review committee at the Albany Med Health System in New York state, where doctors and nurses frequently bring us fraught questions. Consider a typical case:…

3 ways the Trump administration could reinvest in rural America’s future, starting with health care

Rural America faces many challenges that Congress and the federal government could help alleviate under the new Trump administration. Rural hospitals and their obstetrics wards have been closing at a…

3 ways the Trump administration could reinvest in rural America’s future

Rural America faces many challenges that Congress and the federal government could help alleviate under the new Trump administration. Rural hospitals and their obstetrics wards have been closing at a…

Your environment affects how well your medications work − identifying exactly how could make medicine better

Your genes play a major role in determining your height, hair and eye color, and skin tone, but they don’t tell the entire story of who you are. Your environment…

A federal policy expert weighs in on Trump’s efforts to stifle gender-affirming care for Americans under 19

Amid a flurry of executive orders affecting transgender Americans, the Trump administration ordered restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors. Calling it “a stain on our Nation’s history,” the Jan. 28,…

Stricter abortion laws may cause increased infant deaths − 2 maternal and child health researchers explain the data

Infant mortality in the U.S. has increased by 7% since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned the constitutional right to abortion, according to an October 2024…

Nutrition advice is rife with misinformation − a medical education specialist explains how to tell valid health information from pseudoscience

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated a vast landscape of misinformation about many topics, science and health chief among them. Since then, information overload continues unabated, and many people are rightfully confused…

Why government can’t make America ‘healthier’ by micromanaging groceries purchased with SNAP benefits

President Donald Trump’s pick for director of the Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has announced a bold plan. He wants to “Make America Healthy Again.” Kennedy’s…

How does raw water compare to tap water? A microbiologist explains why the risks outweigh the benefits

Water that comes straight from natural sources, dubbed “raw water,” is gaining popularity. Raw water advocates reject public water supplies, including tap water, because they don’t enjoy the taste or…