Health + Medicine – The Conversation

Person with pregnant belly lying in a hospital bed having her blood pressure taken.

Preeclampsia rates in minority communities shed light on the social roots of maternal health disparities

Carina Heckert, University of Texas at El Paso and Kyle Wiley, University of Texas at El Paso

Should you wash your prewashed lettuce? An infectious disease expert explains how to eat your greens safely during the cyclospora outbreak

Lisa Cuchara, Quinnipiac University

Flawed studies linking hormone therapy to breast cancer made doctors reluctant to prescribe it for menopause relief – especially for breast cancer survivors

Versha Pleasant, University of Michigan

Should you drink Philly’s tap water?

Christine Kirchhoff, Penn State

Mother and young boy stand by sink as boy drinks bottle of water

What I found when I scanned the brains of kids creating tunes on the piano

Karen Barrett, University of California, San Francisco

An illustration of a man playing a trumpet with colors coming out of the horn and a black background.

Why Americans seeking affordable doctor visits and medicines abroad may misjudge healthcare quality

Kelli Frias, American University and Deidre Popovich, Texas Tech University

The headless torso of a doctor, wearing a stethoscope around their neck and holding a calculator in one hand and a stack of $100 bills, with a tiny shopping cart full of pills sitting in front of them

News in context

Cyclosporiasis sickens some people worse – why your diarrhea could be more explosive than others

Azadeh Nasuhidehnavi, Binghamton University, State University of New York and Wesley Kufel, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Illustration of red spheres floating in a blue miasma juxtaposed with a person's hand clenching their abdomen

How vaccine skeptics use storytelling effectively to create powerful but medically inaccurate messaging

Katherine Shwetz, Rice University; University of Toronto

Lots of syringes strewn on a pink background

The Benadryl Challenge isn’t going away – here’s how public health officials are trying to stop this deadly viral trend

Andrew Yockey, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

More testosterone won’t make a better soldier or a tougher man – aggression and strength drive T levels, not the other way around

Adam Stanaland, University of Richmond

Muscular person crossing arm across chest, fist against heart

Health Policy

South Dakota’s abortion pill advertising ban runs into free speech roadblock

Lucinda M. Finley, University at Buffalo

Colorado was the first state to cap a drug’s price – then a federal court stepped in

Shweta Kumar, University of Kentucky

An orange, translucent bottle filled with white pills and a 100 dollar bill spills out onto more bills of different values.

FDA drug approval affects healthcare around the world, but political shortcuts could hurt the agency’s international reputation

C. Michael White, University of Connecticut

2.6 million Americans lost health insurance in 2025 after ACA subsidies expired, leading to real health consequences

Aparna Soni, Indiana University

A doctor with a stethoscope around his neck hold the hand of a little girl sitting on an exam table.

From maternal health to influenza rates, gaps in CDC’s public health data are creating dangerous blind spots for disease tracking and prevention

John Kubale, University of Michigan

Healthy lifestyles

Time for a clock change? Congress considers daylight saving time … again

Beth Ann Malow, Vanderbilt University

Two wall clocks side by side - one saying 2 o'clock and the other saying 3'oclock - with the latter surrounded by tulips

Dr. ChatGPT is getting remarkably good at diagnosing health problems - but actual doctors are still better at weighing treatment options

Andrew Parsons, University of Virginia

A phone with several AI apps in a folder labeled AI

Should you get a second medical opinion? A surgeon explains why doing so can make you a more confident patient

Danielle Friedman, Quinnipiac University

A doctor holds a tablet and speaks with a woman sitting on an exam table, who wears a serious expression.

Poop tests and blood tests join colonoscopy as options for colorectal cancer screening

Andrea Dwyer, University of Colorado Anschutz

Close-up of hands holding a test tube and a packet with an icon of an intestine, a magnifying glass hovering over the colon and the word 'screening' printed on it

Reproductive health

A handmade sign saying ICE stop separating families held up in front of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building

US immigration policies interfere with prenatal care and parenting choices, hurting people and communities

Jallicia Jolly, Amherst College

I’m a doctor who helped rename PCOS to PMOS – a 10-year process of listening to 14,000 patients and health professionals speak on how to improve care

Melanie Cree, University of Colorado Anschutz

Hand holding magnifying glass over icon of uterus, icons of the heart, lungs, kidney, liver and intestines surrounding it

Nearly half of maternal deaths in Pennsylvania occur more than 6 weeks after giving birth

Yenupini Joyce Adams, University of Notre Dame

A Black mother kisses her newborn on its head.

Reduced health insurance payments for hospital births had a bigger impact on sterilization rates than correcting an injustice

Liana Woskie, Tufts University and Kimberly Turner, University of Pittsburgh

People with premenstrual dysphoric disorder have higher rates of suicidal thinking, planning and attempts

Eliza Zhitnik, UMass Amherst and Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, UMass Amherst

A woman sits on the floor with her hands clasped around her abdomen as if uncomfortable, as she leans against a couch with her head back.

Infectious disease

Sudanese woman washing her hands with water from a cooler

Cholera still kills thousands each year – in places without clean water, it’s far from history

Katrine L. Wallace, University of Illinois Chicago

Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Philadelphia in 1976 was mysterious and deadly – 50 years later, scientists know the cause but outbreaks continue

Charles N. Haas, Drexel University and Robert Promisloff, Drexel University

Black-and-white photo of four men in cloth hats with regalia sit and talk

World Cup creates perfect conditions for infectious diseases to spread – here are the biggest threats health experts are watching for

Andrés Henao, University of Colorado Anschutz

A soccer ball in the grass wearing a respiratory mask

Long COVID will cost the US an estimated $8 billion over just 3 years due to healthcare burden, managing symptoms and loss to the workforce

Bruce Y. Lee, City University of New York and Hannah Dimmick, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Public Policy

Empty workspace with a table and two chairs next to a window.

Ebola strain spreading in Congo and Uganda has no approved vaccine

Klinger Soares Faico Filho, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)

A person wearing a mask and protective clothing turns on an outdoor faucet for another masked person to wash their hands.

Caregiving

Millions of family caregivers manage complex diets for older relatives – often with little nutritional guidance

Minakshi Raj, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

An older man and his daughter at a table, eating fruit from a bowl and laughing

Screen time guidelines for kids and adolescents have shifted as research paints a more nuanced picture

Gabriel E. Hales, Michigan State University

two youg boys in a classroom look at a tablet screen

Most Americans prefer to die at home, but the US healthcare system often prevents it

Karen Lutfey Spencer, University of Colorado Denver and Jane Callahan, North Carolina Central University

Three hands stacked on top and beneath one another.

Autistic children drown at alarming rates - swim lessons and water safety strategies can save their lives

Tana Carson, Florida International University and Tania Santiago Perez, Florida International University

Young children wearing swim caps and bathing suits sit on the edge of an indoor pool, smiling widely, with their feet dangling in the water.

Mental health

A woman sits in a hallway while an infant plays in the room beyond her.

Nearly 20% of new moms have anxiety or depression, but a promising psychedelic treatment is on the horizon

Camille Hoffman, University of Colorado Anschutz

Childhood experiences of LGBTQ+ stigma can harm romantic relationships decades later – psychologists explain how to reconnect with yourself and your partner

Melissa Gates, Binghamton University, State University of New York and Christina Balderrama-Durbin, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Person looking into the distance as their partner smiles at them

Glucosamine supplements may speed memory loss from Alzheimer’s, new research shows

Ramon Sun, University of Florida

Different sized bottles of glucosamine/chondroiton on a supermarket shelf.

Looksmaxxing isn’t just a TikTok trend – it often reflects severe body image issues in teen boys and young men

Jordyn Tovey, University of Michigan

Young man with curly hair examining his face in the mirror.

‘Bouncing back’ is a myth – resilience means integrating hard experiences into your life story, not ignoring them

Keith M. Bellizzi, University of Connecticut

person with umbrella sits alone on a bench looking at a lake in a park

Mind and body

Seven highball glasses of alcoholic drinks in red, white and blue sitting on a table.

Alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs, yet its presence is ubiquitous in social settings and celebrations

Emma Fenske, Oregon Health & Science University

Melatonin can be a safe and effective sleep aid for all ages – but product inconsistencies and improper dosing lead to real harms

Sally Ibrahim, Case Western Reserve University

A child sleeps peacefully, holding a teddy bear.

Bones communicate with the rest of the body to support overall health – here’s the science behind your skeleton

Priya Bhardwaj, Washington University in St. Louis

How Messi, Mbappe and Haaland use their brains (as well as feet) to gain a psychological edge at the World Cup

Eric Zillmer, Drexel University

A man in a red soccer kit sits on the grass.

Quartz countertops are driving a public health crisis in the US – 2 occupational health experts explain the surge of lung transplants and lawsuits

David Michaels, George Washington University and Robert Harrison, University of California, San Francisco

A newly remodeled kitchen with off-white countertops made of engineered stone

Technology in health care

Many cancer survivors have impairments that make using mobile devices and websites difficult

Rachel F. Adler, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Devorah Kletenik, Brooklyn College

A older woman with a scarf on her head sitting on a couch.

What Pennsylvania’s AI chatbot lawsuit teaches us about the psychology behind medical trust

Gretchen Chapman, Carnegie Mellon University

A man in glasses and a navy blue suit stands behind a microphone.

Reddit and TikTok - with the help of AI - are reshaping how researchers understand substance use

Layla Bouzoubaa, Drexel University

Detail of male drug user''s hands using a smart phone

Focused sound energy holds promise for treating cancer, Alzheimer’s and other diseases

Richard J. Price, University of Virginia

Illustration of glowing circles entering a tunnel of concentric circles

Research insights

What makes muscles contract? A physiologist explains how muscles move

Kiki Crawford, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

young girl flexing her right arm at the beach

Replacing gas stoves with electric stoves greatly reduces asthma symptoms

Ashwini Sehgal, Case Western Reserve University

Keeping drugs free of contaminants – pharmaceutical manufacturers filter medications through tiny pores to keep them sterile and safe

Shreya Kapila, Penn State

Illustration of stream of particles passing through a translucent field and coming through clear blue

Can Ozempic prevent cancer? A doctor explains why the headlines are easy to misread

Ziyad Al-Aly, Washington University in St. Louis