Most People Worldwide Trust That Vaccines Are Safe—But the Amount That Don’t Is Concerning

The majority of people worldwide think vaccines are safe, according to a new global survey—but the share of doubters is still high enough to threaten immunity. The survey, conducted by polling group Gallup and health research charity Wellcome, asked more than 140,000 people in 140 countries about their attitudes on a variety of health and … Read more

Employers Are Steering Workers Toward Controversial Stem Cell Therapies

A Midwestern grocery chain, Hy-Vee, is taking an unusual—and highly controversial—approach to reducing health care costs. Before employees in certain cities can undergo knee replacement, they first must visit a stem cell provider. Hy-Vee has contracted with one of the U.S.’ leading stem cell companies—Regenexx, based in Des Moines, Iowa—that claims injections of concentrated bone … Read more

How A Nurse With a Hole in Her Skull Changed The Medical History of Migraines

The following is adapted from an excerpt from social and medical historian Katherine Foxhall’s new book, Migraine: A History, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and out June 18, 2019. In 1936, Alfred Goltman, a physician from Tennessee, reported on one of his cases in the prominent medical journal Allergy. The patient was a 26-year-old … Read more

Can Wearing a Hat Contribute to Baldness?

Take off that hat. It will make you bald. It’s the sort of thing an opinionated grandparent might tell a grandchild wearing a hat indoors, but there are some who believe there’s wisdom in the admonishment. “I’ve had people ask me about this, and I can understand why they think it’s true,” says Dr. Hayley … Read more

More Millennials Are Dying ‘Deaths of Despair,’ as Overdose and Suicide Rates Climb

There’s been a marked uptick in so-called deaths of despair—those involving drugs, alcohol or suicide—among millennials over the last decade, according to a new report released by public-health groups Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust. Drug, alcohol and suicide deaths have risen in nearly every age group over the last decade, but the … Read more

Can Americans Hack Their Way Out of an Aversion to Exercise?

Slightly more Americans are meeting the federal physical activity guidelines than in years past, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. But overall rates are still low, with disparities across geographic areas—underscoring the important role communities play in their residents’ physical health. As of 2017, about 24% of Americans … Read more

Why Being Neurotic Might Be Good for Your Dog

Dogs are so connected to their owners that they share similar stress levels, according to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports. When people are stressed out, researchers found, their dogs tend to be, too. Certain aspects of your personality—how neurotic you are, mainly—may also affect how stressed your dog is. Researchers in … Read more