Robert Louis Stevenson and His Wife, an oil painting, by John Singer Sargent from 1885

The Culture of Tuberculosis

When perusing the biographies of artists, you'll notice that a large number of them had tuberculosis.
Microscope view of anthrax

Anthrax: The Bacteria that Lays Diabolical Traps

Anthrax sets self-perpetuating booby traps in order to spread itself, researchers have found.
A Polio Quarantine Card outlining the Act of Assembly Act from 1909

The Origin of Quarantine

Such forms of enforced isolation are referenced as far back as the Old Testament, while the word "quarantine" itself dates to the late medieval Plague.
Fist full of soap suds

Is Our Soap Hurting Us?

Julia Scott, a writer and radio producer in San Francisco, was recently a test subject for a living ...