Health & Medicine

Some estimates suggest between 85% and 95% of Black women in the US have used a chemical hair relaxer at least once, but these products are increasingly linked to harms including certain cancers and fibroids.

See stevia's history of varied uses, including as a treatment for burns and indigestion.

See the surprising history of LSD (better known as acid)—a substance derived from a parasitic fungus—in this 1440 Originals video.

In the UK, as of April 2027, women and their partners will be entitled to two weeks of unpaid leave after a miscarriage.

Amid a massive measles uptick in 2026, at least 6 babies in central Pennsylvania have been born with congenital measles.

Explore how the field of dentistry has evolved from being considered a carnival sideshow to a respected field of medicine.

The CDC set up a national wastewater surveillance system in September 2020 to monitor for viral fragments in our sewage that would indicate circulating disease.

See a breakdown of US annual cancer deaths and newly diagnosed cases.

Learned helplessness, the feeling that nothing you can do matters, leads people to become passive when they face certain types of situations, and can result in feeling anxious and sad.

Safeguards that social media companies created to protect children on their platforms failed at least half the time on Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, according to recent research.

Unlike America's recommendations, Australian authorities don't encourage routine sunscreen use for darker skin tones—reasoning that melanoma risk is low, and it's better to get UV exposure to help the body naturally produce vitamin D.

Dr. Henry Heimlich, famous for his antichoking technique from the 1970s, was a proponent of controversial and discredited approaches, including infecting cancer and HIV patients with malaria to try to trigger a heightened immune response.

The 9/11 plane crashes, which resulted in the collapse of the Twin Towers, created toxic dust with materials including asbestos, silica, metals, concrete, and glass.

Arthritis affects almost 60 million Americans, with about 1 in 5 US adults developing this type of joint pain as they age.

Neutrogena has released the first US sunscreens containing the new FDA-approved ingredient, bemotrizinol, which is less greasy, longer-lasting, and safer than existing chemical sunscreen products—and it has been widely available in other countries for years.

Watch this 1440 Originals video on specialized residential communities designed to mimic towns or neighborhoods for dementia patients.

Supplement sales soared during the pandemic, a trend that has continued even though some of the products don't work.

Watch this 1440 Originals video on specialized residential communities designed to mimic towns or neighborhoods for dementia patients.

Mental health experts caution against youth sports betting even as people in their 20s represent the fastest-growing group of sports gamblers.

Forcing a smile can actually make you feel slightly better, though it won't cure depression.

Monaco has the world's oldest population, with more than 36% of residents aged 65 or older, according to World Bank data.

AI griefbots that generate text or even video avatars of the dead are controversial and could conceivably change how we mourn.

Recent global health estimates suggest that inactivity is a leading risk factor for death, contributing to 6% of deaths worldwide.

Patient portals offer a good opportunity to track your healthcare records and communicate with doctors, but they also allow patients to see test results without context, which can cause unnecessary concern.

NASA worries about the reactivation of dormant viruses during missions—particularly the virus that causes shingles—because spaceflight suppresses the human immune system and elevates stress hormones, making it more challenging to stay healthy.

Postpartum depression typically starts in the weeks following childbirth, and the disorder can keep someone from performing tasks of daily living.

Exertional heatstroke is a leading cause of death among athletes and soldiers in training, and typically occurs when someone sweats intensely while exercising in the heat.

Swimmer's ear is America's most common waterborne illness, accounting for about 65% of annual waterborne illnesses and 20% of hospitalizations in that category.

Wearable sleep trackers like the Oura have variable accuracy for specific sleep-stage data but are helpful for identifying overall trends.

In 1984, a dying infant lived for three weeks with a baboon heart inside her chest.

Stress contributes to gray hair because when the body experiences stress, the sympathetic nervous system releases specific hormones that influence pigment-producing cells.

Early 20th-century debates about horses with 'paranormal mathematical abilities' helped shape modern approaches to psychological research.

Every organ in a mother's body changes during pregnancy as her body produces hormones that relax muscles, allowing for the needed expansion.

Cerebrospinal fluid flushes waste from your brain during sleep, performing a nightly brain cleanup that's an important purpose of sleep.

More than a third of America's incarcerated population has a mental illness.

Less than 1% of Americans are allergic to penicillin, though about 10% of Americans believe they have this allergy.

Explore this animated story about loneliness that situates modern statistics about isolation.

Hikma v. Amarin was a case heard by the US Supreme Court in 2026 with implications for generic drug prices.

CRISPR is a gene-editing tool that lets scientists cut out and replace damaged DNA.

Listen to why thousands of donated human kidneys are thrown away annually, even as thousands of people are awaiting a kidney transplant.

In Indonesia, microplastics rain down when trash is burned, and people may ingest the equivalent of 3 credit cards per month—on average.

HIV sidelines your immune system by destroying T cells, eventually rendering the body unable to fight off even minor illnesses.

Humans may have as many as 100,000 to 150,000 individual hairs on our scalps, growing at a rate of roughly 1 centimeter per month.

Explore the current landscape for patient consent with this 1440 Original video tied to Henrietta Lacks' legacy.

US states have reported over $25B in tax revenue from recreational cannabis sales and medical marijuana.

Social media can be a valuable public health tool, combating misinformation, advancing health research, boosting social mobilization, and raising awareness of health services and events.

Small genetic changes that accumulate over time force flu vaccines to be updated regularly.

A baby's due date is calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period—not when sexual intercourse occurred.

Before alarm clocks, people relied more heavily on their circadian rhythms, humans hired to wake them, and on tools such as candle clocks that dropped pins in metal trays at roughly set intervals.

Oregon voters in 2020 greenlit adult use of psilocybin—the active ingredient in magic mushrooms—in state-licensed centers, and a 2026 analysis indicates the program has good safety and satisfaction data.