Search

Few people today could recite the scientific accomplishments of 19th century physician Julius Petri. But almost everybody has heard of his dish. For more than a century, microbiologists have studied [...]

Humans can't easily protect themselves from the most dangerous species on Earth. The predator slips invisibly into homes, quietly stalks its prey and bites before a victim knows what happened. [...]

For centuries, the mouth and the body have been disconnected--at least when it comes to health care. Through the Middle Ages and beyond, teeth fell under the care of barbers, [...]

In a pasture outside Edmonton, Canada, you'll find a few dozen cows doing what cows do: mostly eating. The average animal spends eight-plus hours a day filling its belly, or [...]

The average brain weighs about 1.3 kilograms and consumes 20 percent of the body's energy budget. Much of that energy powers the brain's 86 billion nerve cells, or neurons, which [...]

Blair River was described as 'a big guy with a big heart.' The 575-pound former high school wrestler from Mesa, Ariz., became such a fixture at the Heart Attack Grill [...]

In the fickle world of sports nutrition fads, few trends have shown the staying power of antioxidants. For more than three decades, athletes have remained devoted fans of supplements; the [...]

On April 19,1995, an unemployed security guard with an antigovernment vendetta detonated more than two tons of nitrogen fertilizer mixed with fuel at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in [...]

The obesity crisis has given prehistoric dining a stardom not known since Fred Flintstone introduced the Bronto Burger. Last year, 'Paleo diet' topped the list of most-Googled weight loss searches, [...]

Philip Strax was just 38 years old when his wife Bertha died from breast cancer. He was, a friend said later, powerfully in love with her, and her death was [...]

With the score tied and 30 seconds left in overtime, Wes Leonard, a 16-year-old point guard for the Fennville Blackhawks, sank the winning layup that carried his team to a [...]

When chemists Richard Marshall and Earl Kooi started fiddling with cornstarch, the powder made from the dense insides of corn kernels, their intention was to turn glucose, which is easily [...]

Daisy Martin didn't seem sick. Come dinnertime, she was as ravenous as ever. And at the sight of a new toy, she danced around in excited circles, same as always. [...]

Kotex, the company that first capitalized on the concept of 'feminine hygiene' more than 90 years ago, recently gained newfound success after it began targeting an underserved market: girls who [...]

Mentors at the Rockefeller Institute had warned Peyton Rous not to waste his career fooling with 'the cancer question.' Then he got the bright idea that tumors might be contagious. [...]

Each year more than 26 million people in the United States go to a doctor complaining about a cough. Most have colds and will just have to wait it out. [...]

When Lewis Carroll sent Alice down the rabbit hole, she encountered a strange and twisted land with distortions of size and time. Some headache experts see something else--the possible ghosts [...]

A generation ago, the battle to survive a heart attack was usually won or lost in the emergency room. Medical advances have now enabled more patients to win that fight [...]

When it comes to the safety of dyeing food, the one true shade is gray. Artificial colorings have been around for decades, and for just about as long, people have [...]

Mice aren't known for their skill with complicated memory tricks, but they can usually recall their last meal. Once they happen upon food in a laboratory maze, they are pretty [...]

Amino acids are the Legos of life--tiny bricks that snap together, forming the proteins on which every function of life depends. With rare exceptions, cells choose from just 20 kinds [...]

Throughout the leaner epochs of human history, when food supplies were unreliable, the species would not have survived without a way to hoard calories for later use. That is, without [...]

In the germ world, fungi usually lack the flair of viruses or bacteria. To people with normal, healthy immune systems, a fungus will rarely show itself--even though you carry around [...]

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt secured his claim as the world's fastest human in August when he ran 100 meters in 9.58 seconds, reaching a top speed of nearly 28 miles [...]

Considering that food is full of foreign proteins, it makes sense that the intestine is the immune system's version of Grand Central station. It's the largest organ to regularly sweep […]

The hip bone is connected to the backbone. The backbone is connected to the neckbone. And lately, scientists have begun to think that all dem bones may be connected to [...]

The patient, known as only 'MBM,' was just 7 years old the first time doctors saw her. She had always been prone to night sweats, but now excessive perspiration was [...]

First, let's clear the air: Nicotine invites addiction, and it employs a delivery device that's been killing people for centuries. But let's also be honest: Nicotine has some attractive qualities. [...]

Mothers who don't eat enough during pregnancy could give birth to babies with long-lasting heart problems. The results from a new study in primates add to accumulating evidence that a [...]

Passing a kidney stone is not exactly rocket science, but it could get a boost from Space Mountain. It seems that shaking, twisting and diving from on high could help [...]

Chronic sleep problems are associated with atrial fibrillation--a temporary but dangerous disruption of heart rhythm--even among people who don't suffer from sleep apnea. An analysis of almost 14 million patient [...]

Popular heartburn drugs called proton pump inhibitors--already under investigation for possible links to dementia, kidney and heart problems (SN: 6/11/16, p. 8)--have a new health concern to add to the [...]

A long-awaited study on painkillers called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs has concluded that the three most commonly used carry a similar risk of cardiovascular complications. Yet critics say the study was [...]

A new study shows just how bad yo-yo dieting might be. Women who repeatedly lose and regain as little as 10 pounds may have a higher likelihood of sudden cardiac [...]

Records unearthed from library storage vaults reveal that, in the 1960s, the sugar industry paid Harvard University nutrition experts to downplay studies linking sugar to heart disease, helping to redirect [...]

President Barack Obama's 'Cancer Moonshot' now has a scientific flight plan. It calls for better cooperation among researchers and institutions, aggressive pursuit of immunotherapy and making better use of proven [...]

Ice isn't always nice. Tests of 156 bags of ice sold in grocery stores, liquor stores and gas stations across Southern California found that 19 percent exceeded recommended thresholds for [...]

Moms get blamed for a lot--including their kids' cavities. But new data show that the most common cause of tooth decay, the bacterium Streptococcus mutans, doesn't always come from mother-to-child [...]

A deadly infection is puzzling disease investigators. The illness is caused by Elizabethkingia anophelis, a bacterium found in soil and water that, until now, has rarely caused problems. Authorities in [...]

An increase in drug-resistant urinary tract infections in pets is raising concerns that companion animals may serve as microbe reservoirs that could contribute to the spread of potential superbugs among [...]

When President Barack Obama called for a cancer 'moonshot' during his State of the Union address in January, the idea was big on vision and low on specifics. The goal, [...]

A vaginal ring infused with an antiviral drug appears to protect against HIV, although not as much as doctors had predicted. Women who used the ring had a 27 percent [...]

Simple changes like regularly getting up from your chair, eating an extra homemade meal or two and running errands on foot might substantially reduce your future risk of disease. Several [...]

Obese children as young as 8 years old may experience worrisome changes to their hearts, according to data presented November 10. In a small study involving 20 obese children, 40 [...]

ORLANDO, FLA. -- Blocking and tackling may not be the riskiest thing that linemen face on the football field. Blood pressure and cardiac function of college football linemen worsened over [...]

After a decade of controversy and halting progress, preexposure prophylaxis may finally be about to take its place in the vanguard of AIDS prevention. In September, for the first time, [...]

Living large can mean dying large, as familiar reminders about obesity's link to cardiovascular disease and diabetes repeatedly emphasize. But those warnings often overshadow another threat from obesity: cancer. Excess [...]

No animal has shaped the course of civilization more than the horse. Horses have pulled plows, herded cattle, and brought riders into battlefields and to the edges of continents. Today, […]

The curse of the mummy may truly be fatal. An examination of mummified bodies has revealed that ancient Egyptians suffered from hardening of the arteries in surprising frequency, suggesting blame [...]

Even though studies have found that marathoners can experience changes in heart structure and function consistent with cardiac damage, the runners aren't necessarily having small heart attacks, researchers reported November [...]