How Gut Microbes Shape Our Response to Drugs
The human microbiome activates some medicines, inactivates others and provokes side effects
Stories by Claudia Wallis
How to Break the Bonds of Opioids
Many chronic pain patients can be slowly tapered from the drugs without increasing misery
It’s Time to Shift Tactics on Alzheimer’s Disease
After a string of drug failures, researchers are looking beyond amyloid as a target
Are Pricey New Drugs Better Than Old Ones?
Most of the time we don't know if they are better than the old ones
The Cancer-Obesity Time Bomb
Malignancies are on the rise in the most obese generation in history
When Vitamin Pills Are Too Much of a Good Thing
Taking megadoses of vitamins can be risky, as a recent study shows
How to Prevent Food Allergies
Feeding infants allergenic foods may be the key to preventing allergies
Is Pot Any Good for Treating Pain?
The data are spotty, but there’s still a reasonable case to be made
The Sleep-Dementia Connection
Could a better nighttime rest help delay the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease?
Pain Patients Get Relief from War on Opioids
U.S. agencies warn doctors not to abruptly cut off the medications for long-time users
A Three-Hour Fix for Phobia, a Four-Day Therapy for OCD
Brief but intensive treatments are proving to be effective for many anxiety disorders
Are All Our Organs Vital?
Even the appendix and tonsils are less expendable than we thought
How Virtual Reality Will Transform Medicine
Anxiety disorders, addiction, acute pain and stroke rehabilitation are just a few of the areas where VR therapy is already in use
What Ails a Woman’s Heart
The more we look, the more we find sex differences in cardiovascular disease
How to Cultivate a Warm Computer-Side Manner
There’s a right way for doctors to integrate technology into patient care
Why Oral Cancer Threatens Men
Researchers wrestle with rising rates of throat cancers caused by common papillomaviruses
How to Help Pain Patients Cut Back on Opioids
The search is on for safe, effective ways to taper the drugs for people in chronic pain
The So-Called Right to Try Law Gives Patients False Hope
A new law to let dying patients access unapproved drugs raises false hope
Ba-Boom! There Goes Your Hearing
New discoveries offer hope for noise-induced hearing loss
Extreme Flu? Weird Encephalitis? It May Be Your Genes
Subtle mutations can undermine our ability to fend off a specific bug
