A Plane Quarantine in New York Started Out Like a Sci-Fi Nightmare
100 supposedly sick passengers ended up only being 10. But the story tapped into potent fears about flying.
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Aly Song / Reuters Why Hasn’t Science Solved Acne Yet?
Dermatologists are cautiously optimistic that a new vaccine could work better than so many other flawed treatments.
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Chris Shinn / Getty A Simple Reason So Many Older Americans Are Overdosing on Opioids
A recent poll suggests many doctors aren’t warning elderly patients of the risks when prescribing painkillers.
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Dominic Favre / AP A Sociologist Finds Vegans Are Too Open to ‘Free Riders’
A contentious study suggests that social movements shoot themselves in the foot when they embrace a wide range of adherents.
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Thinkstock Images / Getty Why Are STDs on the Rise If Americans Are Having Less Sex?
The CDC found that reported cases of three STDs hit an all-time high in 2017, suggesting that while sexual activity is decreasing in the U.S., it’s getting riskier.
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Lester V. Bergman / CORBIS / Getty The U.S. Hits Record STD Numbers—And Prevention Budgets Continue to Fall
Funding cuts are one hurdle to stopping the spread of gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia.
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U.S. National Library of Medicine The 'Poison Squad' That Shook America’s Faith in Preservatives
In the U.S., chemicals like borax were common in foods from bacon to margarine, until a shocking series of experiments revealed their toxic effects.
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Toru Hanai / Reuters The Jordan Peterson All-Meat Diet
The famous psychologist and his daughter swear by a regimen of eating only beef. Restriction can provide a sense of order in a world of chaos—but at what point does restriction become a disorder?
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Stefano Rellandini / Reuters A Daily Drink Is Almost Certainly Not Going to Hurt You
Some reassuring context for a study that warns there is “no safe level of alcohol consumption.”
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Mendowong Photography / Getty / The Atlantic Here’s What Happens When a Few Dozen People Take Small Doses of Psychedelics
There’s new—and possibly dubious—evidence that “microdosing” hallucinogenic drugs makes people more creative.
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Meth-Addicted Mothers and Child Abuse
In Fresno, California, experts attribute a rising incidence of child abuse to the region’s alarming meth addiction rates.
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Rachel Cassandra Pregnant and Addicted to Heroin
In Fresno County, drug use is about two times the state average. Pregnancy can be a crucial time for women to seek help for addiction—but it can also cost them their children.
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Margaret Katcher A Mother’s Zip Code Could Signal Whether Her Baby Will Be Born Too Early
Every year, more than 400,000 women in America have babies who are preterm, low birthweight, or who die before their first birthday.
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Mihaela Muntean / Getty Why It's So Hard to Treat Compulsive Hair Pulling
Thirty years after trichotillomania was officially recognized as a disorder, a full recovery remains out of reach for many.
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Julio Cortez / AP Playtime May Bolster Kids’ Mental Health
But as parents and schools emphasize academics, it’s dwindling.
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Natacha Pisarenko / AP Gender Equality Could Push Men’s and Women’s Personalities Apart
A provocative study finds that nations with the most pronounced gender gaps nonetheless have the most shared characteristics between genders.
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Fotografía de eLuVe / Getty Why Are So Many Americans Flushing Their Contacts Down the Toilet?
The trash is right there.
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David Duprey / AP How Much of an Herbicide Is Safe in Your Cereal?
The debate is vicious around glyphosate, which was recently found in several breakfast favorites.
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Steve Gschmeissner / Getty AI-Driven Dermatology Could Leave Dark-Skinned Patients Behind
Machine learning has the potential to save thousands of people from skin cancer each year—while putting others at greater risk.
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Kirby Lee / Reuters Swim Caps Are Keeping Black Women Out of Pools
Their limited design is yet another contributor to America’s racial disparities in swimming.
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Hero Images / Getty Treating Teens’ Depression May Be Great for Parents’ Mental Health, Too
Early evidence suggests that treatment has a ripple effect in families.
