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Disease Update

Collage juxtaposes silhouettes of overweight people with unlabeled graphs, a BMI (height-weight ratio) chart, scale and measuring tape.
Society

She saw the obesity epidemic coming. Then an unexpected finding mired her in controversy.

Katherine Flegal was a scientist who found herself crunching numbers for the government, until one day her analyses set off a firestorm. What does she make of her decades as a woman in public health research?

A noise map of Atlanta and the surrounding region shows a large colorized swath representing decibels, daily average noise levels go from 45 decibels to nearly 80.
Health & Disease

Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart

Loud road and air traffic has been linked to a greater risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. Scientists are uncovering new details about how what you hear stresses the cardiovascular system.

Conceptual illustration shows a woman, head in hands, sitting on a chair. Images surrounding her depict a death she may have caused through negligence: an ambulance, bicycle on its side, damaged car, grave site and a cell phone opened to a texting app.
Health & Disease

The lasting anguish of moral injury

Psychologists are finding that moral code violations can leave an enduring mark — and may require new types of therapy

A baby suckles at a mother’s breast.
Health & Disease

Five mysteries about breast milk

The little that we know about breastfeeding tells us a lot — imagine if we knew more

Conceptual illustration of a person suffering from back pain
Health & Disease

Managing pain in a time of opioid abuse

Other therapies, more training, a new mindset: Can doctors bring relief to patients without putting them at risk for addiction?

Collage shows a silhouette of surgeons working on a patient, surrounded by graphics denoting measurement and ratings.
Health & Disease

Measuring surgical quality

Not all surgeons are equally skilled with a scalpel. Doctors are developing new ways to test — and improve — operating room performance.

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The Mind

The baby brain: Learning in leaps and bounds

VIDEO: Learn how the baby brain changes from gestation to toddlerhood, and what parents, teachers and policymakers can do to ensure kids are set up for success

Photograph of a man walking on a wooden jetty at the water, under cloudy skies. Despair-induced suicidal thoughts and actual attempts are recognized as distinct things by researchers, who are working to better understand the progression and so intervene more effectively.
The Mind

Short-circuiting the suicide cascade

Psychologists are seeking better ways to cut the link between dire thoughts and fatal action. Among their strategies: individualized plans for pulling back from the brink, and limiting access to deadly means, especially guns.

Illustration of a doughnut on a mousetrap
Society

In promoting health, when to tiptoe — and when to stomp?

Inform, incentivize, legislate: There’s a ladder of escalating approaches for changing citizens’ behavior — and nudges for every rung

An illustration shows anguished people with opioid use disorder being treated remotely by a doctor on a laptop computer.
The Mind

Does online opioid treatment work?

The Covid-19 pandemic brought a sudden shift to virtual health care. That has increased access — and possibly outcomes, too — for patients with opioid use disorder.

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Health & Disease

Sell-by dates | Things to Know

VIDEO: Time stamps on packaging prompt consumers to toss a lot of food, but what do they actually say about safety?

Conceptual illustration featuring a syringe and virus particles.
Health & Disease

Getting a Covid-19 vaccine — quickly and safely

Researchers around the globe are working with unprecedented speed to find the vaccines we need to find our way through the pandemic. What’s the bar for safety and effectiveness?

Illustration shows two young Black children staring at a wall with words that express examples of the racism people in the United States face.
Society

How racism in early life can affect long-term health

OPINION: Excessive adversity activates biological reactions that can lead to lifelong problems in physical and mental wellbeing

Photograph of a row of skeletons in a trench.
Health & Disease

Profiling the perpetrators of past plagues

The ancient pathogens in old graves are as dead as the people they once infected. Still, they tell a vivid tale.

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The Mind

The teen brain: Mysteries and misconceptions

VIDEO: Join a conversation about the teenage brain’s strengths and vulnerabilities, how adults can support teenagers with mental health issues, and how teens can help one another

Conceptual illustration of a child sitting cross-legged, surrounded by a set of shapes and squiggles meant to signify all the stimuli they encounter in their young lives.
Health & Disease

Studying poverty through a child’s eyes

Research on early-life adversity should pay more attention to the perspective of children themselves

Conceptual illustration of migrant farmworkers. Migrants often work in hazardous jobs.
Society

Unhealthy work: Why migrants are especially vulnerable to injury and death on the job

A mysterious kidney disease is just one of the many health risks faced by immigrant laborers. In a Q&A, occupational health expert Marc Schenker discusses the hazards and a few potential solutions.

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The Mind

The mature mind: Aging resiliently

VIDEO: Connect with brain health experts about the best ways to cultivate resilience as we age, and how to support loved ones with memory loss and dementia

Photograph of an elderly woman lying in bed. Standing and sitting around her are family members, two of them holding her hands. A hospice aide and a bottle of lotion are seen at the foot of the bed.
Health & Disease

Going gentle

A sociologist explains how to get the most out of the final months of life

Shankar Jalota poses as part of photographer Brock Elbank’s recently completed Vitiligo Portrait Series
Health & Disease

The dappled dilemma facing vitiligo science

Even as scientists celebrate progress in the lab, a stigma-busting movement asserts that those with the autoimmune skin condition are more in need of acceptance than medicine

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