Medicine

Insights into the healthcare system and the latest in pharmaceutical development.

Latest in Medicine

Illustration of two astronauts sitting on toilets while looking at their phones

Even astronauts get constipated in space

The bark of birch trees has been used to produce tar for more than 150,000 years. The center photo shows birch bark tar condensed onto a rock that borders a hearth. When scraped off the rocks, the viscous tar can be used as both an adhesive and antibiotic.

Neanderthals used antibiotics, new experiment suggests

By Laura Baisas

a screenshot of a website showing a human brain, heart, colon, lung, kidney, prostate, placenta, and liver

Explore the human body in stunning, 3D detail with a new online tool

By Laura Baisas

5,000-year-old bacteria thawed in Romanian ice cave

By Laura Baisas

A vintage, colorful movie poster for the 1931 film Frankenstein. In the center, a large, dramatic close-up of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster looms over the other characters. He has a pale, squared-off head, visible scarring on his forehead, and heavy-lidded eyes looking downward with a somber expression. The poster is divided into segments: Bottom left: A well-dressed man in a suit and a woman in a pink dress look off-camera with concerned expressions. Bottom right: Two men are engaged in a tense conversation; one appears to be Dr. Frankenstein, gesturing animatedly with his hands toward an older man. The overall aesthetic is dark and atmospheric, using a "vignette" style with deep blacks and pops of green and blue in the background.

Human head transplants’ gory, Frankenstein-esque history

By Nidhi Sharma

Hands warming near a bonfire at night

Fire may have altered human DNA

A white woman cracks her fingers. She has muted purple nail polish on and a muted purple blouse on, too.

Is cracking your knuckles really bad for them?

By Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

Close up of Greenland shark with copepod attached to eye

Dissected Greenland shark eyeballs could help humans see forever

Woman in her twenties with open eyes and extended eyelashes

5 breakthrough health innovations in 2025

a scared man with several dental tools in his mouth

Quieter dental drills may be on the horizon

By Laura Baisas

a piece of sliced turkey on a white plate with a side of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans. a dish of cranberry sauce is on the left side

Tired of turkey? Try gene edited, meat-like fungi.

By Mack DeGeurin

Scanning electron microscopy image of the engineered 3D bone marrow tissue colonized with human blood cells (red). Andrés García García, University of Basel, Department of Biomedicine

New lab-made bone marrow model is a bioengineering first

By Laura Baisas

Microrobot capsule on tip of finger close up

These tiny robots swim through your blood to fight strokes

Neural implant sensor resting on grain of salt

This brain implant is smaller than a grain of rice

rotten eggs with black and white fuzzy mold on them

Stinky ‘rotten egg’ gas could fight nail infections

By Laura Baisas

Side-by-side of a coiled green mamba and a white llama

The secret ingredient in a snake antivenom? Llamas.

Kidney transplant in container

Donor organ’s blood type altered for the first time

empty capsules with a colorful capsule-like device in the middle

World’s smallest ‘bioprinter’ is the size of a pill

By Mack DeGeurin

peeled and open kiwis. they have green fruit with brown skins

Constipated? Try kiwis.

By Margherita Bassi

Smelt fish under ice. Fish spawning in river. Pacific smelt

Fake fish blood may save your ice cream from freezer burn