Dogs' disease-sniffing skills were first identified in 1989

Two dogs were able to detect prostate cancer in 98% of patients in one study

In this small study published in 2015, two highly trained German Shepherd dogs sniffed hundreds of urine samples and were able to accurately detect prostate cancer—sniffing out certain volatile organic compounds—in almost every single case. One dog was correct 98% of the time and the other correctly identified patients 100% of the time. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Efforts to create disease-sniffing capabilities for phones still can't match dogs

In this video, a scientist explains why dogs remain leaders in olfactory capabilities, outpacing technology. Scientists have attempted to create artificial "e-noses" for phones to detect early signs of disease, but so far they have not been successful.

A super-sniffer smelled her husband's Parkinson's disease years ahead of symptoms

She discovered she could smell diseases, including Parkinson's, tuberculosis, Alzheimer's, cancer, and diabetes. Working with an analytic chemist, she's learned she can smell subtle changes in odor—ones that smell consistent across individuals with the same disorder—even before symptoms manifest.

Dogs smell a lot of stuff we can't, including bed bugs and chemicals in electronic devices

In addition to identifying medical smells and tiny insects like bed bugs, dogs can also detect electronic storage devices. These tools often contain triphenylphosphine oxide, a chemical used to prevent overheating.

See the first dog ever treated with insulin—a peptide

Frederick Banting and his graduate student Charles Best were the first to isolate the peptide insulin from dogs. They induced diabetes in the animals and then treated them with this peptide.

A dog's central sniffing organ is many times bigger than a human's

The olfactory epithelium, located high up within the human nose, is home to millions of olfactory neurons. A dog's olfactory epithelium is much larger—and has more neurons—than a human's, which helps to explain the animal's superior sniffing ability.

The Dog Aging Project uses information from over 50,000 dogs to explore longevity

The study gathers health, lifestyle, and genetic data to understand what helps dogs live longer, healthier lives. Findings could also provide human health insights due to our shared surroundings and biology.

Cadaver dogs are helping archaeologists uncover decaying history

Archaeologists are increasingly relying on dogs to help find decaying bodies at burial sites, some of them up to thousands of years old. This is helping archaeologists to detect past remains without ever touching a shovel, which means there's less...

Can AI revolutionize cancer detection?

Scientists have developed a tool to evaluate the risk of lung cancer, the most deadly form of the disease. Named "Sybil," this AI program was trained using CT scans with clear cancer signs, followed by scans where cancer wasn’t obvious. The tool is able to review CT scan data to predict a patient's of developing a lung cancer within six years. See how it works here.

Canine inspectors can help detect potential carriers of invasive insects

At ports of entry in the US, Customs and Border Protection agents use dogs to sniff for forbidden foods and other items that are known to harbor invasive pests. Agents also physically inspect items such as flowers to prevent entry by species that may harm US agriculture.

The science of dogs, from wolf origins to color-blindness

This under 10-minute podcast episode dives into the rich, fascinating science behind dogs: From their world-class sense of smell to their domestication from wolves.

Dinosaurs suffered from cancer, arthritis, and infections seen in modern animals

Using CT scans and advanced pathology techniques, paleopathologists have identified respiratory illnesses, malignant osteosarcoma, and other diseases in dinosaurs. The research has helped show how many of these ailments are not exclusively modern phenomena.

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

Timeline of cancer research milestones

While cancer remains incurable, there's been so much progress in its treatment over the last two decades. Nature provides an abridged history of milestones and major triumphs in cancer research and treatment. Start in the year 2000, and see how much has changed in the first quarter of the new millennium

Lupus, an autoimmune disease with varied symptoms, was named for wolf bite-like lesions

The 13th-century physician behind the name (lupus is Latin for wolf) named it after a patient he saw who had facial lesions that looked to him like a wolf's bite. Other common symptoms of the disease include extreme fatigue, painful and swollen joints, fevers, and light sensitivity.

How Nobel Prize-winning research unraveled why the immune system doesn't always attack itself

The 2025 Nobel Prize was awarded to scientists who discovered how immune system soldiers are typically stopped from attacking healthy tissue. The work furthered autoimmune understanding and cancer therapies.

A photo essay on 'French ring,' the storied sport for disciplined protection dogs

The sport dates back to the 1800s in France and tests canine agility, discipline, and aggression in protection dogs. This photo essay follows Judo de Loucyn, a 72-pound Belgian Malinois, the sport's preferred breed, as he competes in obstacle clearing, long jumps, and obedience and attack drills in the North American Ring Association Western Regional Trial in Arizona.

Leprosy has been detected in British red squirrels

The animals have been infected with both strains of the bacterium that cause leprosy. Researchers have found that squirrels living in different parts of the UK were infected with different species of the disease-causing bacteria. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Watch how doctors examine leprosy patients for signs of vision impairment

Clinicians must screen for symptoms of eye and vision damage in leprosy patients, including loss of sensation, reduced blink reflex, and inability to close or keep the eyes closed.

How a scientist discovered West Nile is spread by birds

Listen to Tracey McNamara, former chief pathologist at the Bronx Zoo, detailing her surprising late 1990s discovery that established West Nile virus is spread by birds. Financing animal disease surveillance studies, she says, saves human lives and surveillance gaps may fuel missed opportunities to identify dangerous diseases before they jump between species.

Some say baseball's drug problem goes back to the late 1800s

At age 32, pitcher James “Pud” Galvin was feeling tired and decided to take "the Brown-Séquard elixir," which contained a testicular fluid from dogs and guinea pigs, believed to invigorate tired bodies. It might've worked: Galvin pitched a two-hit shutout the next day.

Carrier screening enables individuals without symptoms to see if they carry a gene for disease

Some conditions are autosomal recessive—meaning a person may carry a gene for that condition, but not have symptoms. Cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, and Tay-Sachs disease are examples of autosomal recessive diseases in which a person must inherit two copies of a nonfunctioning gene—one from each parent—to develop disease.

How radioactive isotopes are created and used for medical diagnostics

In particle accelerators, protons can be accelerated into other atoms to create radioactive isotopes, which can be attached to specific molecules to create radiotracers that are taken up by specific cells. Radiotracers can emit particles that produce light once they collide with an electron, and this light can be captured by a PET scanner to diagnose specific ailments.

Pets can experience vertigo, particularly older dogs

This type of dizziness is often caused by disorders of the vestibular system, and in dogs is often referred to as "old dog vestibular disease" because it tends to occur in older animals. The condition tends to resolve on its own in days or weeks. Vertigo is less common among cats than dogs, and in felines is typically caused by inner ear infections or other causes including a tumor.

Search Lyme disease incidence in your county

The searchable database at the bottom of this webpage allows users to check the reported incidence of Lyme disease in US counties and Canadian health regions. In 2022, for example, Baltimore County in Maryland had a rate of about 34 probable and confirmed cases per 100,000 people. Arlington, County in Virginia was less than half of that for the same time period.

The virus was officially described for the first time in 1789

Michael Underwood, an English physician and surgeon, was the first to describe the disorder, noting it caused disability in the lower extremities in children. Large-scale outbreaks of the disease were not observed until the late 19th century.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

In recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

This poison ivy knowledge quiz—accompanied by photos of the plant's varied forms—may help you identify this common rash-inducing growth.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls