The ‘Cuddle Hormone’ Might Help America Take On the Obesity Epidemic
The brain chemical oxytocin appears to make people feel full and reduce overeating. Can it encourage weight loss?
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Joe McKendry Discovering the Placebo
A very short book excerpt
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Simon Dawson / Reuters The Word Curry Came From a Colonial Misunderstanding
No Indian language uses the term, and the closest-sounding words usually just mean “sauce.”
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Courtesy of Bre Hushaw The Helmet That ‘Resets’ Your Brain
Magnetic stimulation is helping some people with depression—but the $12,000 treatment is also being unleashed in untested ways.
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Arsh Raziuddin The Truth About Dentistry
It’s much less scientific—and more prone to gratuitous procedures—than you may think.
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Rubberball / Nicole Hill / Getty When Medical Schools Become Less Diverse
Texas Tech recently announced it will no longer take race into account in admissions to its medical school—a move that might affect not only aspiring doctors, but many of their would-be patients as well.
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Mark Makela / Reuters The Dreams You Can’t Remember Might Never Have Occurred
Is it possible to dream of nothing?
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Dan Kitwood / Getty Images The Coming Obsolescence of Animal Meat
Companies are racing to develop real chicken, fish, and beef that don’t require killing animals. Here’s what’s standing in their way.
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Alicia Tatone; Michael Reynolds / EPA / Shutterstock Why States Want Certain Americans to Work for Medicaid
Many people might soon be required to find employment in order to receive health care. But this policy has a fraught historical precedent.
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ROBERT MARKOWITZ / AFP / Getty / The ... What a Year in Space Did to Scott Kelly
An unprecedented and illuminating study monitored identical twins, one in space and one on Earth.
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Oosterhof et al / American Journal of Human ... The Boy Missing an Entire Type of Brain Cell
Microglia make up 10 percent of the brain, and an extremely rare case shows just how important they are.
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Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters Why Europeans Don’t Get Huge Medical Bills
Other countries still have health insurers, but they avoid five-figure medical bills. The answer lies in how the insurers and doctors are regulated.
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Paulo Whitaker / Reuters Tiny Bees Fed On a Woman’s Tears—But Nature Gets Worse
Here are six other living things you don’t want to get stuck in your eye.
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CDC / Pete Wardell When Gut Bacteria Betray Their Hosts
Decades after a deadly outbreak, a researcher found a key clue to its cause inside frozen microbes.
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Steve Marcus / Reuters Hearing Aids’ Reputation Is Lagging Behind the Technology
Manufacturers say the devices can benefit just about everyone. But first they have to become cool.
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Yoshiyoshi Hirokawa / Getty Hot People Are Stressful
The brain appreciates beauty. But not always.
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Richard Baker / Getty Can We Touch?
Physical contact remains vital to health, even as we do less of it. The rules of engagement aren’t necessarily changing—they’re just starting to be heard.
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The Heroin Hearse in the Overdose Capital of America
In drug-ravaged Appalachia, a man tries to save lives by bringing death into the streets.
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MoonRock / Swill Klitch / Shutterstock / Katie ... Invisible Middlemen Are Slowing Down American Health Care
Nurses spend 16 hours on the phone, medications take months to arrive, and patients suffer as they wait.
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MB Photography / Getty Ancient Humans Might Have Had a Marrow Advantage
New evidence suggests that meat wasn’t the key to dramatic cerebral growth.
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Thomas Barwick / Getty Millennials Are Sick of Drinking
But they’re not giving up booze just yet.
