Cultural norms about how to handle the bodies of loved ones have hampered Ebola responses in West Africa

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients

Treating someone with Ebola involves a painstaking process of suiting up (donning) and peeling off (doffing) protective gear. Doctors follow detailed CDC guidelines. Properly suiting up is key to protecting against fluids that transmit Ebola, and correctly removing a suit that could be contaminated with the virus is also critical.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016

Frontline traced how the outbreak started and spread across West Africa. documenting first-hand accounts and patient experiences. This Ebola outbreak was the deadliest to date, resulting in over 11,000 deaths.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak is hampered by a lack of vaccine against the species of the virus, heightening the need for rapid tests to aid in disease control

Clinics in the Democratic Republic of Congo saw patients with Ebola symptoms months before the disease was identified. The identification lag was due to inadequate diagnostics that could not accurately or quickly identify the virus's myriad species. Contact tracing and better diagnostics will be required to tamp down the outbreak.

See the evolution of Ebola vaccine and treatment development.

Watch what the Ebola virus does inside our cells and organs in order to spread and survive.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak is hampered by a lack of vaccine against the species of the virus, heightening the need for rapid tests to aid in disease control.

How the most famous Ebola outbreak book got aspects of the disease so wrong

Richard Preston's 1994 book The Hot Zone brought knowledge of Ebola to the masses. But, beyond the poor portrayals of the science and the scientists, the book fostered fearmongering about Ebola, with portrayals of "liquefying," "dissolving," and "bleeding out." These falsehoods about Ebola have persisted for decades and appear to be reinvigorated with every new emergence of the disease.

See how the Ebola virus affects blood circulation in the human body

Ebola infects and disables immune cells, causing a cascade of events that result in small blood clots throughout the body, weakening blood vessels, and interrupting blood flow to key organs.

Scientists have struggled to pin down Ebola's natural reservoir species for decades, but the available evidence suggests that it's very likely fruit and insect-eating bats found in Africa.

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

Ebola species have historically been named after where they were discovered, stigmatizing residents who live there, including Bundibugyo, in Uganda.

Watch wild elephants 'mourn' their dead

Wild elephants in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya visited their dead matriarch's body weeks after her death and displayed behaviors that researchers are hesitant to call "mourning" though they do believe the animals are displaying a specific reaction in response to the death. The video shows elephants using their trunks to touch and explore the carcass while standing in place for extended periods, which is uncommon for the animals.

Read what actions helped support grieving individuals during times of anguish

Concrete acts of kindness that buoyed New York Times readers after the deaths of loved ones varied widely. Examples include: friends sending emojis requiring no reply, coming over without asking to clean a grieving individual's bathroom, feeding them, taking them for periodic outdoor walks, and simply sitting with them so they weren't alone. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Afterlife traditions help some humans process death

Watch this video discussing concepts of the afterlife presented through an anthropological lens about one family's experience and traditions passed down from one generation to another.

Most Americans are now dying at home, reversing 20th century trends

For most of the 21st and 20th centuries most Americans died in hospital settings. But in 2016, home-based deaths overtook hospitals; most Americans are now dying at home, likely fueled by individual preferences to die at home or to receive at-home palliative care.

Where did zombies come from?

This 17-minute video dives into the origin of modern-day zombies. Zombies can be traced to early West African spiritual practices, specifically Vodou. Vodou evolved from the mixture of beliefs held by enslaved Africans in the French colony of...

Dr. William Gorgas eradicated yellow fever in Panama, crucial to canal construction

The disease was one of the factors hampering the French effort to build the canal. Gorgas' experience elsewhere in the Caribbean had taught him that good drainage and quaranting patients were essential, and he would eventually apply mosquito prevention tactics on a mass scale.

How drug trafficking undermines West Africa

The rise of drug trafficking is undermining institutions, public health, and development efforts in West Africa. According to the West African Commission on Drugs, civil wars have receded, democracy has gained ground, and economies are growing in...

Dead birds are often the warning sign health officials look for as a sign of West Nile danger

Public health officials look for various clues to stay ahead of outbreaks of potentially fatal diseases, like West Nile. Issues like standing, untreated pool water—detectable if the pool is turning green—or dead birds—are important to report to local public health officials.

When is it OK to dig up the dead?

Human bones tell stories that would otherwise be lost to history. But archaeologists are increasingly confronted with demands to let past generations rest in peace, according to this article.

See how cholera spreads in a community

This animated video offers a comprehensive look at how cholera spreads. It makes clear why it's so difficult to stamp out this disease in communities around the world. It also details what steps can help control cholera.

Chimpanzees are dying from human colds

For some great apes, the threat of human-borne diseases outweighs poaching or habitat loss. This article details the danger of reverse zoonoses, which refers to diseases that spread from humans to animals.

Variations of marriage existed in ancient West Africa

The enormous landmass of Africa has been home to numerous cultures and countries, and there’s been no singular way to get married. One striking aspect has been the matrilineal belt across central Africa, where wealth was passed down through the female, rather than the male, line. In some regions, it was also acceptable for a woman to take more than one husband.

The Hungry Ghost Festival in Asia honors the dead

A tradition in East and Southeast Asia, the Hungry Ghost Festival primarily involves offering food and other treats to the dead. The festivals' practices uphold the Buddhist ideals of generosity and compassion, directed even toward specters.

Candida auris spreads easily in healthcare facilities and causes high death rates

This fungus has spread rapidly in healthcare settings since the first US case was reported in 2016, and it has grown increasingly resistant to echinocandins, the antifungal medicine most commonly used to treat it. Often, it’s resistant to multiple antifungal drugs, contributing to its high death toll. It can most readily infect those with invasive medical devices like intravenous catheters and those with frequent or long-duration stays in healthcare facilities.

The human body relaxes upon death, including the bowel and bladder, expelling urine and feces

Watch a hospice nurse walk through how death affects the human body and what to expect in the hours and days following the death of a loved one as the body breaks down.

A 49-year-old American died at an ibogaine clinic in Mexico, underscoring its risks

The man had sought out the drug to help him overcome his substance abuse disorder. Though anecdotal reports indicate potential promise, there's been no large-scale clinical trials on ibogaine's safety and efficacy. The plant is derived from a root bark named iboga and has been used for centuries by indigenous communities in Gabon, but first entered scientific consciousness in 1901 after its alkaloid was isolated from Iboga.

Does our fear of Alzheimer's create stigma around its treatment?

Surveys suggest our fear of Alzheimer's as a disease outranks that of heart disease and cancer. This piece argues our fear of aging and the slipping away of our mental capacities make it more difficult to treat Alzheimer's compassionately.

The ritual burns of California forests

Many ecosystems around the world have adapted to regularly occurring wildfires. Some human cultures saw the advantage of such fires and integrated them into their community rituals. Learn about similar tribal traditions looking to better manage California's forests today.

Mental health symptoms may manifest differently across cultures

Mental health, like physical health, is imbued with values, beliefs, and traditions. Symptoms of distress are not universal and may differ based on racial, ethnic, and cultural contexts. Because mental health may be stigmatized or communities may have varying belief systems about causes of mental health challenges and how to fix them, it may affect how symptoms manifest. Chest pain, for example, may be a sign of mental distress—not the need for a doctor.

In 1984, a dying infant lived for three weeks with a baboon heart

Pediatric-sized hearts are very hard to find. They're about the size of a walnut. When a premature baby girl was born with a fatal heart defect in 1984 her care team transplanted a 7-month-old baboon's heart into the patient. The organ was not genetically modified but still the infant lived for several weeks. This roughly hour-long documentary from the medical institution, features the patient's mother, clinician, and more discussing the controversial procedure and aftermath.

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

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

The tragic Pulitzer Prize-winning image 'The Vulture and the Little Girl' (1993) generated controversy, raised concerns about ethics in photography, and eventually led to the photographer's death.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

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

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

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.