Bruce Walker, an AIDS researcher at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, has long been trying to understand why some people with HIV can remain untreated for decades and never progress to AIDS. On Nov. 4, Walker …
Medicine
Late-Term Abortions: Q&A With the Last Remaining Doctor Who Performs Them
No doubt, being an abortion doctor is a stressful and dangerous profession. Being an abortion doctor who performs abortions well into the second and third trimesters only ups the ante. Ask Warren Hern, the only doctor in America …
Vaccination Rates Drop in Wealthier Kids: The Autism Rumors Take a Toll
If there’s one great truth of political debate, it’s this: when noise trumps knowledge, someone’s going to get hurt.
Study: Some Autistic Brains Really Are Wired Differently
Too many tight connections in frontal-lobe circuits and too few long-distance links between the frontal lobe and the rest of the brain may cause some of the language, social problems and repetitive behavior seen in autism …
Study: Fish Oil Pills Don’t Stall Alzheimer’s
There was good reason to believe that fish oil, which has been linked to health benefits for the heart, might also work its medical magic on the brain, particularly with Alzheimer’s disease. Preliminary studies hinted that …
More Wisdom From a Long-Ago Plague
In its own deadly way, the 1918 flu pandemic is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s hard to say anything good about a global scourge that claimed 50 million lives, but a new article published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases …
10-Year-Old in Spain Is Not the First or Youngest Child Mom
A 10-year-old girl gave birth last week in a Spanish hospital, as TIME’s NewsFeed posted earlier today. The new mother’s young age may be shocking, but she isn’t the youngest mother on record by far.
Who’s Afraid of the Flu? Not Moms
In a typical flu season, up to 150 U.S. children die; last year’s numbers were even worse: the swine flu pandemic killed 1,100 kids. Still, one-third of U.S. moms don’t plan to get their children a flu shot this season, …
Can Pregnant Moms Give Their Babies a Peanut Allergy? Maybe
About six percent of children under three suffers from a food allergy, and close to 2% are allergic to peanuts.
Have Trouble Paying Bills? Could Be a Sign of Alzheimer’s
When it comes to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, an inability to pay bills and understand contracts are often among the first red flags—so much so that the Alzheimer’s Association officially listed confusion over …
California’s Whooping Cough Epidemic Hits Latino Babies Hardest
An old disease, pertussis or whooping cough, reemerged this summer in California and crept into the Pacific Northwest. At least one infectious disease expert explained the epidemic by calling the region the “epicenter of vaccine …
Marie Claire Blogger Grossed Out by Obese TV Lovers
Fat is a dirty word in America. “Overweight” or “obese,” of course, is the politically correct term. Yet Marie Claire blogger Maura Kelly threw tact to the wind and called it like she sees it earlier this week when she voiced her online disgust with CBS sitcom Mike & Molly.
Flame Retardants in Everyday Products May Be a Health Hazard, Scientists Say
Here’s a fact to brighten your Thursday: you have a much smaller chance than your grandparents of bursting into flames.