You Can "Catch" Alzheimer's Disease

Donating your blood could save someone's life. And so could donating your poop. Correction: The writer for this episode was actually Hannah Thomasy, who is wonderful.

Near the end of 2020, we got some puzzling but good news: COVID-19 fatality rates have been dropping. Here are a few factors that might help explain why we’re seeing this trend.

The quest for anesthetics that could induce unconsciousness and enable more meticulous surgeries began around the early 3rd century CE. Before anesthesia was widely used, patients had to consciously endure every moment of surgery. So,...

1,700 years ago, Chinese alchemist Ge Hong was renowned for his soup that could cure diarrhea-stricken patients. It had a surprising secret ingredient: feces. While it might seem unwise to consume feces, exciting new research suggests...

For many immigrants, a mastery of everyday English doesn’t mean they feel comfortable in all settings, like doctors’ offices. That’s where medical interpreters play a crucial role — but access to these highly skilled professionals isn’t...

A CDC report shows maternal deaths nearly doubled over three years, with over 1,200 deaths in 2021. Rural communities, where maternal mortality is almost double urban rates, struggle to access lifesaving maternal healthcare. With support...

Music is a tradition nearly as old as humankind itself, so it's no wonder our brains have developed interesting ways of interacting with and responding to it. Here are just a few of the ways music impacts our psychology.

New CDC data shows a surge of sexually transmitted infections in the U.S. in recent years. The most significant rise is in syphilis and congenital syphilis, which occurs when mothers pass on the infection to their babies during...

An unconventional approach to recovery and coping, music therapy is a field of medicine capturing new attention due to its role in helping Gabrielle Giffords recover from a gunshot. Correspondent Spencer Michels reports on the...

Lenny and Amy’s 5-year-old son has epilepsy. When conventional medications caused terrible side effects, they started giving him a daily drop of cannabis oil, with dramatic results. But it’s a calculated risk: While there is anecdotal...

Coronavirus is spiking in parts of the U.S. spared the worst of the pandemic in its early days, as well as in states that already suffered. With an average of 75,000 new daily cases over the past week, hospital admissions are rising,...

Physician shortages, as well as cost and distance, can make specialty care prohibitive for many low-income patients. A nonprofit aims to tackle those challenges by utilizing telehealth technology and retiring, volunteer doctors. Special...

More women in America die from pregnancy-related complications than in any other developed country in the world, and black women are most affected. NewsHour Weekend's Ivette Feliciano reports on one clinic in Memphis, Tennessee, where...

During his surprise Thanksgiving trip to Afghanistan, President Trump announced he had restarted talks with the Taliban.The ability of the conflict-wracked nation to achieve peace is at stake -- but so is progress for women, who could...

Lenny and Amy's 5-year-old son has epilepsy. When conventional medications caused terrible side effects, they started giving him a daily drop of cannabis oil, with dramatic results. But it's a calculated risk: While there is anecdotal...

Rheumatic heart disease develops when strep throat goes untreated. It causes an estimated 275,000 premature deaths per year, mostly youth in developing countries like Rwanda, where antibiotics are rarely available. Surgery is the only...

When students come into Dan Levitin's lab, he spends most of his time trying to teach them that they don't know everything they think they do. "Knowledge can only be created in an environment where we're open to the possibility that...

Book: How Doctors Think

Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court has many abortion rights advocates worried that the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is in imminent peril. In many places the rollback of access is already steadily progressing....

On the front lines of Mosul, Iraq, two young American volunteers aid those injured in battle. Pete Reed and Derek Coleman treat Iraqi soldiers and civilians right in the path of fire, far closer than other medical providers. Without...

According to Census data, fewer than three-quarters of eligible Americans are registered to vote. Since 2019, a nonprofit called Vot-ER has taken voter registration efforts into medical exam rooms across the country. Tionya Lawrence, a...

Delhi now outranks Beijing as the world's most polluted city. Carbon dioxide, ozone and fine carbon particles get trapped over India's capital, mostly due to dirty fuels, causing long-term health consequences such as lung and heart...

The epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in America is Atlanta and the southeast, and among the hardest hit populations are gay and bisexual black men. According to the CDC, half of them will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes if current...