Medicine

A health care worker prepares to deliver an mpox vaccine during the 2022 outbreak.

All of the WHO's declarations of emergency since 2007 have been for viral diseases, including the most recent one for mpox.

A scanning electron micrograph of ‘Mycobacterium tuberculosis’ particles (colorized red), the bacterium that causes TB.

Ailments as diverse as tooth decay and malaria have caused suffering for thousands, even millions, of years—and they’re not done with us yet.

An Olympic swimmer sports circular bruises from cupping therapy.

In events where success or failure can be measured in tiny increments, it’s not surprising athletes will turn to any potential advantage. But does cupping actually work?

Transorbital lobotomies have now entered the chat.

These gory yet fascinating reads delve into the weirdest chapters of medical history, from the dancing plague of 1518 to the bizarre saga of Typhoid Mary.

If you’re eating a healthy and balanced diet, you may not need extra vitamins.

Too much of anything, even a helpful or healthy thing, can hurt you. Medication? Definitely. Water? Absolutely. Exercise? You bet. Vitamins? Quite possibly.

Pills come in orange containers for a clever reason.

Those orange bottles are no accident—they were specifically designed to keep both medications and people safe.

Figure it out, stat!

From the Founding Father who stuck whalebone where he shouldn’t have to the only known woman to have given herself a C-section.

The vast majority of tonsillectomies are performed on children.

The surgical extraction of the tonsils was a hallmark of a 1950s childhood, but now the operation is not nearly as common.

Patient portals unfortunately aren't yet of the teleportal variety.

Here’s everything you ever wondered about ‘stat’: its meaning, its origins, and whether ER doctors really shout it all the time.

A spoonful of sugar would definitely taste a lot better.

There's a reason that cough syrup you're trying to choke down tastes like cherry.

A lock of Ludwig van Beethoven's hair in the collection of San José State University.

Researchers speculate that ingesting lead may have contributed to the famous composer’s hearing loss and other unexplained ailments.

Having an intrusive thought doesn’t mean you have OCD. Let’s break down some myths about obsessive compulsive disorder.

Fifteenth-century woodcut of a young woman who represents syphilis with the skeletons of dead lovers behind her bed.

Ailments have gone by various names over the centuries. How many of these can you guess correctly?

There are some powerful tools in your arsenal that will help keep the Sunday Scaries at bay.

The phenomenon also known as “the Sunday Night Blues” can be daunting—but there are ways you can fight back.

Everything you knew about normal human body temperature is a myth.

The average body temperature isn't actually 98.6°F, a fact scientists have known for at least three decades. So why does this myth persist?

Your gut's microbiome can influence everything from digestion to immune health.

Supplements that promise to restore your gut health are everywhere. But not everyone can stomach them.

We’re covering practical tips (like the scent that will alert you to an impending electrical fire) to decidedly stranger ones (how to get out of a kangaroo attack) in the latest episode of The List Show.

If you were a woman in the 19th century, virtually anything could get you committed to a psychiatric hospital—including drinking too much tea.

“The Plague Hospital,” a painting by Francisco Goya.

The Black Death—the world's second bubonic plague pandemic—decimated the populations of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe in the 14th century. But there was a silver lining.

Uncovered on the grounds of the now-demolished Bahr Treatment Center in Indianapolis, this time capsule contained film reels that are still shrouded in a layer of mystery.