We’re Living in a Post-Antibiotic World
A new CDC report warns: “Stop referring to a coming post-antibiotic era—it’s already here.” Contrast that to a 1944 article on the promise of penicillin.
Smart Toilets: The Jetpack of the Bathroom
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are envisioning a toilet that can analyze urine for indicators of disease.
Can Zapping Your Brain Really Make You Smarter?
Early scientific results on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) show promise, but are they enough to support a multi-billion-dollar industry?
Who Really Discovered How the Heart Works?
For centuries, the voice of the Greek doctor Galen, who held that blood is produced in the liver and filtered through tiny pores in the heart, went unchallenged.
What Did the Winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine Discover?
The 2019 Nobel Prize for Medicine honors a discovery that may make it possible to prevent or even reverse the damage from cardiovascular disease.
Branding the Breast Cancer Narrative
Do those ubiquitous pink ribbons stand for women’s health concerns... or for normative concepts of beauty?
On the History of the Artificial Womb
Will outside-the-womb gestation, increasingly viable for animal embryos, lead to a feminist utopia? Or to something like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World?
A Brief History of Masturbation
In the U.S. and Europe, there's still discomfort around the topic of masturbation. But we’ve come a long way from tying it to mortal sin and insanity.