Health & Medicine

  1. Life

    Explainer: What is a stem cell?

    Special cells have ability to turn into several different types

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Fat becomes a disease

    Medical group decides it is time for doctors to view — and treat — obesity as a disease.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Infection time

    Disease is more severe when it hits in the morning, at least in mice.

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  4. Brain

    Explainer: Our bodies’ internal clocks

    Biological clocks determine hunger, sleepiness and other daily rhythms.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Flu in the air

    Germs tiny enough to pass through surgical masks may cause half of all cases.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    An itch switch

    Scientists identify a chemical that helps the brain know where to scratch.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Wanted: ‘Smart’ cleaners

    Active surfaces will — on their own — help remove everything from insects and germs to poisons.

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  8. Chemistry

    A penny for your health?

    Copper is best known as the reddish metal used to make pennies, electrical wiring and weather vanes. But two teen scientists think copper should find its way into medical settings as well. Their data suggest the metal — in bandages or on surfaces — could play a major role in killing some types of bacteria responsible for serious infections.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Killer-flu update

    Infection that recently developed in China shows signs of being easy to spread and hard to kill.

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  10. Chemistry

    New bag keeps food fresh longer

    Invention harnesses oxygen-trapping power of iron.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Fuzzy future

    Kids may suffer impaired vision from spending too little time outdoors, studies suggest.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Inspired medical research

    Teens make real advances in biomedical science.

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