When Herminia Pasantes Ordóñez was about 14 years old, in 1950, she heard her mother tell her father that she would never find a husband. Pasantes had to wear thick…
Category: Health & Medicine
A new technology uses human teardrops to spot disease
Human tears could carry a flood of useful information. With just a few drops, a new technique can spot eye disease and even glimpse signs of diabetes, scientists report July…
Here are experts’ answers to questions about COVID-19 vaccines for little kids
Four weeks ago, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on COVID-19 vaccines for young children. Days later, doctors’ offices and clinics began rolling out shots for…
Two pig hearts were successfully transplanted into brain-dead people
Pig hearts beat for three days inside the chests of two brain-dead patients who were kept alive using ventilators. The feat helps researchers prepare for future clinical trials of pig-to-human…
‘Virology’ ponders society’s relationship with viruses
VirologyJoseph OsmundsonW.W. Norton & Co., $16.95 As a journalist covering COVID-19, I’ve had a front-row seat to the pandemic. I’ve been overwhelmed with despair over the death and suffering. I’ve…
The flowery scent of a Zika or dengue infection lures mosquitoes
Some mosquito-borne viruses turn mice into alluring mosquito bait. Mice infected with dengue or Zika viruses — and people infected with dengue — emit a flowery, orange-smelling chemical that tempts…
College COVID-19 testing can reduce coronavirus deaths in local communities
Getting a COVID-19 test has become a regular part of many college students’ lives. That ritual may protect not just those students’ classmates and professors but also their municipal bus…
How scientists are shifting their search for links between diet and dementia
The internet is rife with advice for keeping the brain sharp as we age, and much of it is focused on the foods we eat. Headlines promise that oatmeal will…
This soft, electronic ‘nerve cooler’ could be a new way to relieve pain
A flexible electronic implant could one day make pain management a lot more chill. Created from materials that dissolve in the body, the device encircles nerves with an evaporative cooler.…
Six months in space leads to a decade’s worth of long-term bone loss
You might want to bring your dumbbells on that next spaceflight. During space missions lasting six months or longer, astronauts can experience bone loss equivalent to two decades of aging.…
