Humans

  1. Health & Medicine

    Scientists Say: Placebo

    In clinical trials, scientists often test a drug or procedure against a placebo — a treatment that has no effect — to find out how well their new treatment works.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  2. Health & Medicine

    Urban pollution can pose unseen risks to kids’ immunity and more

    A trio of new studies links immune changes and high blood pressure to inhaling bad air.

    By Esther Landhuis
  3. Health & Medicine

    Brown bandages would help make medicine more inclusive

    Peach-colored bandages label dark-skinned patients as unusual, says med student Linda Oyesiku. Brown bandages expand who’s seen as normal.

    By Sujata Gupta
  4. Psychology

    Boredom may pose a public health threat in the social distancing era

    Boredom contributes to pandemic fatigue, and it may account for why some people don’t follow social distancing rules.

    By Sujata Gupta
  5. Health & Medicine

    Teen depression linked to how the brain processes rewards

    Depression in teens alters their brains’ pathways in ways that may put those kids at risk of lifelong mental-health problems — unless they get help.

    By Alison Pearce Stevens
  6. Health & Medicine

    Bringing COVID-19 vaccines to much of world is hard

    The price of not vaccinating nearly everyone across the world could be a longer pandemic and more troubling variants of the new coronavirus.

    By Jonathan Lambert
  7. Science & Society

    When COVID-19 comes for your science fair

    When labs shut down due to COVID-19, teens took their science fair projects to the internet and … sometimes even to the bathroom.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  8. Brain

    Study is first to link brainwaves to certain forms of thought

    Electrical activity in the brain reveals when we are focused or allowing our minds to wander freely.

    By Alison Pearce Stevens
  9. Microbes

    Some microbial hitchhikers may weaken body’s attack on COVID-19

    New research identifies an altered mix of microbes in the body — ones commonly seen in people with poor diets — that may worsen coronavirus disease.

    By Ana Maldonado-Contreras
  10. Humans

    By not including everyone, genome science has blind spots

    Little diversity in genetic databases makes precision medicine hard for many. One historian proposes a solution, but some scientists doubt it’ll work.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  11. Brain

    Active bodies build stronger brains

    Aerobic fitness and physical activity correlate with widespread brain health in adolescents, according to a new imaging study in England.

    By Esther Landhuis
  12. Health & Medicine

    Some young adults will volunteer to get COVID-19 for science

    Researchers will soon give some healthy people the new coronavirus. Their young volunteers have agreed to get sick to speed coronavirus research.

    By Jonathan Lambert
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