What story would your medicine cabinet tell about you? Medicine cabinets are amazing spaces. They can contain a multitude of pills, pastes, syrups, and wrappings that we know we can reach for to manage many types of pain, ailments, and illnesses ourselves. They can provide a window into a person’s well-being—really? you’ve never peeked after [...]

For past decades I’ve vacationed in mid-coast Maine, an enjoyable respite from sweltering Washington, D.C. weather. When I returned to Boothbay Harbor last week, I was dismayed to learn that local St. Andrews hospital will be closing its emergency room, part of its merger with Miles Hospital in Damariscotta, 20 miles away. While I have [...]

Health care spending increases have slowed over the past couple years. Still, we are spending some $2.6 trillion—that’s trillion with a “T”—a year on health costs, which is a higher percentage of our GDP than any other developed country. And we don’t seem to be getting that much healthier. So economists and policy researchers are [...]

Most people appreciate electronics that are durable and can last for years before needing to be replaced. If the device in question is a medical implant or a sensor for monitoring environmental conditions, however, designers might prefer the gadget to simply biodegrade without a trace once its purpose is fulfilled. University of Illinois researchers, working [...]

Flood, famine, fire and disease—climate change is expected to have an impact on all of these threats, by altering the earth in many ways, from changes in the planet’s water cycle to making a broader swath of the planet amenable to insect-born illnesses such as malaria. A new study in the November issue of Health [...]

Thanks to medical advances in recent decades, many millions more people are surviving for years beyond a cancer diagnosis. These leaps, however, have not come cheap. And with an aging population and expected rising costs in medical care, the financial burden of cancer is expected to rise precipitously in the next 10 years—despite decreasing incidence—according [...]

Back in October, I opened my email to find an interesting invitation for me to apply for a trip to India as part of a special International Reporting Project bloggers’ trip focusing on child survival and related issues of health and development. The trip described in full “The trip will focus on issues of child [...]