Diseases (Page 2)

Groundbreaking research on COVID-19, cancer, diabetes, and other health concerns.

Latest in Diseases

a mosquito biting human skin

Mosquitoes can learn that DEET means dinner is served

By Laura Baisas

Mature woman suffering from hot flashes using hand fan, cooling down at home.

What happens inside your body during a hot flash

By Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

Caution tape blocks the entrance of a bathroom.

7 ways toilets have killed people

By Andrew Coletti

Young black girl with buck teeth eating a big red and white lollipop. She's wearing a yellow shirt with overalls.

No, sugar doesn’t actually cause cavities

Egyptian fruit bat hanging upside down on black background

People keep trespassing near cave filled with bats infected by Ebola’s cousin

Healthcare, hand and iv with a patient in a hospital bed for recovery or rehabilitation closeup. Medical, wellness and treatment with a sick person lying in a clinic on a saline solution drip.

Parasitic sleeping sickness creates ‘invisibility cloak’ to hide in humans for years

An Ixodes tick (left). An Asian tiger mosquito. (right)

What a cold winter means for ticks and mosquitoes

By Laura Baisas

7 wild ways pregnancy changes your body forever

By Jennifer Byrne

Close-up of aedes aegypti mosquito sucking blood from human skin, transmitting dangerous diseases like dengue fever, zika virus, and chikungunya, Chumphon in thailand.

Mosquitoes have been sucking our blood for 1.8 million years

a woman scratches an uncomfortable itch on her forearm

How your body knows when to stop scratching

By Laura Baisas

a large group of yellow bananas

New discovery could help stop banana extinction

By Laura Baisas

Stirling, Scotland - August 1, 2020, old medieval cemetery around Port of Menteith Parish Church

Medieval elite still received fancy burials despite disease stigma

Poison warning label layered atop brown hair

Hair samples reveal the benefits of lead regulation

Two paleolithic skeletons displaying dwarfism in museum exhibit

Skeletons reveal Stone Age mother and daughter had a rare genetic condition

a grandmother and grand child lay with colorful blocks

Babysitting grandkids can boost brain health

By Laura Baisas

A cross section of a dog's heart showing heartworm

This deadly dog ‘spaghetti’ has ancient origins

By Laura Baisas

a mosquito drinking human blood

Without forests, mosquitoes turn to human blood

Depiction of the fourth horseman of the apocalypse, Death, riding a mythical creature, presumably a winged lion. Below him is a personification of famine (Fames), pointing to her open mouth. The depiction was created in Erfurt in the mid-14th century; the connection to Neuses may be drawn due to the date – St. Mark’s Day – of the annual memorial procession leading to the mass grave. Source: Klassik-Stiftung Weimar

Medieval plague victims likely found in mass grave in Germany

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

pills of various sizes laid out in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and pink order

Addiction is puzzling. Scientists are trying to understand why.

By Hanna Pickard

a block calendar with january 1 and the word "dry" on it

The health benefits of Dry January

a firefly glowing on a black background

‘Hope in a bottle’ for a deadly cancer and the firefly gene that lit the way

roman ruins in northern england

Diarrhea slowed down Roman soldiers

By Laura Baisas

several cheeses on a wooden board

Brie, cheddar, and other high-fat cheeses linked to lower dementia risk

By Laura Baisas

Photograph of the fresco Trionfo della Morte, taken at its original location in the Camposanto Monumentale in Pisa. The fresco, known as the “Triumph of Death” and attributed to the painter Buonamico Buffalmacco, is not precisely dated; scholarly estimates range from 1335 to 1350. While it does not depict the Black Death explicitly, the selected detail shows victims of an epidemic from diverse social backgrounds, their souls carried off by demons.

Medieval volcanoes may have ignited the Black Death

Arm in noninvasive glucose monitoring device

Goodbye, finger pricks? Diabetes patients could monitor glucose with lightwaves.

A vibrant, digital illustration of a glowing DNA double helix structure against a dark blue background. The helix is composed of numerous small, multicolored, light-filled blocks and lines that represent the genetic code.

How scientists analyze ancient DNA from old bones

Drone carrying AED in midair

Drones are delivering life-saving defibrillators to 911 calls

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

A plate filled with a traditional holiday meal, featuring sliced roasted turkey breast, a scoop of stuffing, green beans, diced sweet potatoes, and a spoonful of cranberry sauce, all resting on a white plate set on a rustic wooden table.

Can one big meal really make you gain weight?

By Jennifer Byrne

Microrobot capsule on tip of finger close up

These tiny robots swim through your blood to fight strokes

V0015163ER Two hooded figures and a King grieve over a dead person whil Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Two hooded figures and a King grieve over a dead person while another masked figure comes to cleanse the room of the plague. Woodcut by V. Solis. Published: - Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Centuries of Black Death misinformation started with a poem

A vintage photo collage featuring an oval cut-out image of seven people—three men and four women, who appear to be young college students—dressed in 1920s-era clothing. They are standing close together and looking at the camera. The background is a texture of yellowed, old newsprint with blurred text about a sleep experiment.

In 1925, seven students went 60 hours without sleep—for science

By Bill Gourgey

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

The secret ingredient in a snake antivenom? Llamas.

a dolphin blowing bubbles under water

Dolphins may be getting an Alzheimer’s-like disease due to this neurotoxin

By Margherita Bassi

Skull of a soldier from the Napoleon army next to a button from a soldier's uniform.

The real killer of Napoleon’s army revealed by DNA testing

pinworm under microscope

Ancient poop from Mexico’s ‘Cave of the Dead Children’ teems with parasites

By Laura Baisas

Close up of bearded dragon against black background

Reptile ‘pee crystals’ might help treat kidney stones and gout

Kidney transplant in container

Donor organ’s blood type altered for the first time

several large black antsDeposit Photos

Ants ‘social distance’ during a pandemic

By Margherita Bassi

bat hanging upside down from tree branch at night

Why do bats spread so many diseases? They’re evolutionary marvels.

a woman using nail clippers to cut her big toe nail

Scientists need your toenails

By Laura Baisas

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

Fake fish blood may save your ice cream from freezer burn

A vintage photo collage featuring a man in a shirt and tie, intensely focused while looking into the eyepiece of a microscope. The image is overlaid on yellowed old text, likely a magazine or newspaper clipping, with blurred headlines visible in the background.

How a hatter and railroad clerk kickstarted cancer research

By Bill Gourgey

A colorized vintage photo shows a smiling blonde woman in a salmon-colored dress waving her hand while seated at a dark wooden counter or bar. Two men in white staff uniforms and hats are leaning over the counter, laughing with her, one of whom is holding a cigar. The other offers her a drink in a tall glass. Several other men in hats are visible in the background.

The radioactive ‘miracle water’ that killed its believers

a border collie in a park gives a human a high five with its paw

Pandemic life left its mark on dogs

By Laura Baisas

Close up of mosquito biting a person's skin

Mosquitos seem to like beer drinkers who recently had sex

Golden retriever in park with frisbee in its mouth

Golden retrievers help scientists pinpoint a deadly heart mutation

a young man using his smartphone in the toilet while sitting with a roll of toilet paper placed in a toilet paper holder in the foreground

Bathroom doomscrolling may increase your risk of hemorrhoids

Illustration of the Great Fear of 1789

Rumors spread like viruses. The French Revolution proved it.

a wearable robot vest, with long grey sleeves and sensors in a lab

Balloon-equipped ‘wearable robot’ could help stroke survivors

By Mack DeGeurin

Interior of small airplane bathroom

Airplane toilet water may help combat the next pandemic

Spilled salt shaker on table

Man develops psychosis following ChatGPT’s salt-free diet

Close-up of a dead mosquito lying on its back on a flat surface, its legs curled upward and abdomen visibly red with ingested blood, with wings partially extended and fine hairs on its limbs catching the light.

This drug can turn your blood into mosquito poison

By Mack DeGeurin

sheep bones in a dig site

Ancient animal bones unlock clues about Bronze Age plague

By Laura Baisas

Close up of older man using eye drops

Bye bye, bifocals? New eye drops can fix farsightedness

a small, yellow snail with dark eyes

Apple snails can regrow their eyeballs

By Laura Baisas

Close up of women flossing

Future vaccines could be delivered by dental floss

A highly detailed visualization of a glowing blue neuron with electric impulses traveling through its synapses. This futuristic and scientific representation illustrates brain activity, artificial intelligence, and the complexity of neural networks in both biology and technology

Biomedical engineers grow whole-brain organoid

Medieval manuscripts like the Cotton MS Vitellius C III highlight uses for herbs that reflect modern-day wellness trends. Image Credit: The British Library.

Dark Age detoxes sometimes resembled TikTok health trends

A close up of a mosquito biting human skin

A mosquito killer may lurk in a Mediterranean bacteria

By Laura Baisas

a doctor usess a tongue depressor to examine a young boy's throat

Do we need our tonsils?

By Lauren Leffer

a yellow fungus with a white circle around it in a petri dish

Deadly ‘pharaoh’s curse fungus’ could be used to fight cancer

By Laura Baisas

a long black amphibian with feathered gills called an axolotl swims in a fish tank

Axolotl mucus peptides attack breast cancer cells and MRSA

By Laura Baisas