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Jonathan Hayward / AP The Bike Helmet Paradox
Plastic shells keep our heads from coming open, but they also deter us from riding bicycles. And riding bicycles is good for people and Earth.
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How We Realized Putting Radium in Everything Was Not the Answer
Gone are the days when the only way to make butter seem even healthier was to name it after a radioactive element.
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How Arizona Reconciled Government-Run Health Care With Its Conservative Ethos
Outsourcing care to closely regulated private companies has allowed the state to both save money and keep patients out of nursing homes under Medicaid.
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Doctors as Writers: Overshare, Be Real
Portrayals of medical issues in HBO's Girls are on point. Patients understand that medicine is messy. Doctors should let that show.
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How the FDA Is Keeping New Cigarettes Off the Market
In ignoring thousands of applications to create new cigarette brands, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is interfering with market competition, not promoting public health.
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Study: People With Mental Illness Are Five Times More Likely to Be Murdered
Violent acts directed at, not committed by, the mentally ill should concern us most.
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If Symptoms Persist, Text Your Doctor
90% of Americans have never emailed or texted with their doctor. Shouldn't they?
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Kind Neighbors Are Scarce, but Important
Can a disregard for the power of community living help explain America's health problems?
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High-Energy Physics Is Still a Worthwhile Investment
Beyond bombs and the indulgence of scientific curiosity, there are plenty of practical uses for particle physics.
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Study: Hospitals With More Facebook 'Likes' Have Lower Mortality Rates
Online popularity reliably indicates quality care -- in this case.
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Your Kid Probably Doesn't Need Antibiotics
How to help everyone prevent the looming "antibiotic apocalypse"
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How Much Should Be Spent Beautifying Hospitals?
Where the evidence exists to support it, design has the potential to increase safety, promote healing, and even end up saving money.
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Doctor, Not Chaplain: How a Deeply Religious Surgeon General Taught a Nation About HIV
The late C. Everett Koop chose to fight the AIDS epidemic at its 1980s outset, despite resistance from the conservative base that brought him into the office.
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HIV+ Baby Cured
A day for medical history
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New Zealand's War on 30 Million Possums
Inside New Zealand's militant pest-control campaign
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How Much Does It Cost to Go to the ER?
Treating a UTI costs $2,598, on average -- and we needed a study to tell us this.
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Echoes of Tuskegee: The Socioeconomic Cycle of Heart Disease
Being poor and uneducated remains a health risk to large segments of first-world societies.
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Testing Drugs on the Developing World
For people struggling to put food on the table and a roof over their heads, "voluntary" participation in clinical trials is a slippery slope.
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Study: The Health Benefits of Marriage Don't Apply to Cohabitating Gay Couples
Marriage is a uniquely healthful institution.
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The Loophole That Keeps Precarious Medical Devices in Use
Devices such as AEDs remain in a grandfathered status that allows them to bypass important regulation
