MEDICINE

10 Stubbed Facts About Your Big Toe

9. Surgeons can make thumbs out of big toes.

Scientists Find Potential Diabetes Drug in Platypus Venom

A long-lasting chemical compound in the venom of platypuses and echidnas helps regulate blood sugar.

We're So Close to Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease—But There's Been a Setback

Thirty years ago, there were 3.5 million Guinea worm infections per year. In 2016, there have been 19.

REBECCA O'CONNELL // WELLCOME IMAGES (HIPPOCRATES), ISTOCK (BACKGROUND)

10 Tips for Recovering From Illnesses From Hippocrates

Pick the right wine, or you might get farts.

This Visual Prosthetic Helps the Blind See Again

New visual prostheses can help people with progressive retinal degeneration restore visual signals to their brain.

An Antioxidant Found in Wine May Help Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Resveratrol, a humble antioxidant found in grapes, nuts, and berries, can significantly reduce the hormones that create hormone imbalances in women with PCOS, and improve insulin sensitivity.

Did We Miss a Quarter of the Ebola Infections?

A new paper lends further support to the idea that a significant number of individuals can become infected with Ebola but not show symptoms.

Scientists Make Antibiotics from Bacteria Found in the Human Body

The new drugs may even be able to help treat MRSA—a condition that, by definition, is resistant to antibiotics.

Good News: Low-Cost Mosquito Nets Continue to Prevent Malaria

A report from the World Health Organization finds that treated bed nets stop malaria transmission even among pesticide-resistant mosquitoes.

This Star-Shaped Pill Could Revolutionize the Way We Take Medicine

The pill is capsule-shaped when swallowed, then expands in the stomach to deliver an entire course of treatment over several weeks.

You are getting dangerously close to this Gila monster.

12 Fascinating Facts About Gila Monsters

Meet the Gila monster, the largest native lizard in the United States. But watch out for its venomous bites.

UCLA Scientists Use Ultrasound to "Jump-Start" a Coma Patient’s Brain

Researchers at UCLA are the first to use a new, noninvasive ultrasound technique to "jump-start" the brain of a recovering coma patient from a minimally conscious state to fully conscious.

The Brown family was involved in New England’s vampire panic.

The Mystery Behind the 19th-Century New England Vampire Panic

Some families were so desperate to save their loved ones from a mysterious illness, they were willing to try anything, even exhuming them.

Male Birth Control Is 96 Percent Effective, Study Finds

Men could soon bear some of the responsibility for contraceptives.

12 Innocuous Facts About Jonas Salk

Long before developing the polio vaccine, Salk had wanted to be a lawyer and politician.

A Skin Patch Could Help Treat Peanut Allergies

The patch just finished the first stage of a highly promising clinical trial.

Seth Pincus, Elizabeth Fischer and Austin Athman, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health // Public Domain

Scientists Pinpoint When and Where HIV Arrived in the U.S.

So-called "Patient Zero" was not, in fact, the first person in North America to contract the virus.

Drug-Dispensing Contact Lens Eases Glaucoma Symptoms

Two researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Boston Children’s Hospital recently designed a contact lens that delivers medication directly to the eye.

The Science of Spit

Your spit can tell you much more about your health than whether you should be flossing.

After Unusual Tumor Surgery, Baby 'Born Twice' Is Thriving

The doctors removed LynLee Boemer from her mother's uterus to remove a tumor—then put her back inside. Now she's nearly five months old.

5 Ways a Post-Antibiotic Era Could Change Medicine

1. A scratch could become deadly.

Mike Lehmann, Mike Switzerland via Wikimedia Commons // CC-BY-SA-3.0

Tasmanian Devil Milk Could Help Fight Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Marsupial milk has evolved to provide extra immune support.

A Factor in Babies’ Blood May Treat Inflammation and Sepsis

The peptide only exists in the umbilical cords and circulatory systems of newborn babies for about two weeks; then it disappears.

One Gene Mutation Links Three Mysterious, Debilitating Diseases

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome are so obscure that most doctors have never heard of them.

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