When bitter winds blew and temperatures dropped, my grandmother would urge me to come inside. “You’ll catch your death of cold out there,” she’d say. Sure, freezing to death is…
Category: Health & Medicine
4 key things to know about lung infections caused by fungi
Some fungi that can cause serious lung infections have spread to many parts of the United States. A Science News story on the expanded range of Histoplasma, Coccidioides and Blastomyces…
50 years ago, scientists sequenced a gene for the first time
Molecular biology’s flower child — Science News, January 6, 1973 During the past several years, some artificial genes have been synthesized…. But no one had unraveled a real gene that dictates…
Fungi that cause serious lung infections are now found throughout the U.S
Three types of fungi that cause serious lung infections and were once thought to be confined to certain regions of the United States are now widespread. In 1955, Histoplasma fungi…
Brain scans suggest the pandemic prematurely aged teens’ brains
Living through the COVID-19 pandemic may have matured teens’ brains beyond their years. From online schooling and social isolation to economic hardship and a mounting death count, the last few…
These 5 biomedical advances gave 2022 a sci-fi feel
COVID-19 may continue to dominate headlines, but this year’s biomedical advances weren’t all about “the Rona.” 2022 saw fruitful and seemingly fantastical research that could one day mean good news…
Medical racism didn’t begin or end with the syphilis study at Tuskegee
“We were all hard-working men … and citizens of the United States.” Herman Shaw, 1997 Born in Alabama in 1902, Herman Shaw was a farmer and a cotton mill worker.…
2022 was the year long COVID couldn’t be ignored
This year, the world had to face the growing burden of long COVID. A tidal wave of people with lingering symptoms — some mild, some profoundly disabling — commanded attention.…
Some common medical terms may be more confusing than doctors think
Medical language can sometimes stump patients. And some common sayings are straight-up head-scratchers. Calling a patient’s neurological exam “grossly intact,” for example, might not sound so great, says Michael Pitt,…
How 4 major coronavirus tools impacted the pandemic in 2022
The third year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States introduced vaccines for very young children and an updated booster, plus wider availability of an antiviral drug and at-home…
