Health & Safety

When mental health professionals don't take insurance, only the wealthy can afford their help.

How Therapy Became A Hobby Of The Wealthy, Out Of Reach For Those In Need

4:33pm June 30, 2016

by April Dembosky

Therapists are in such demand they can bypass insurance companies, so the wealthy are more likely to get treated. A historian explains how this came to be the norm in the U.S. health care system.

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Women from a traditional sea-harvesting community fish in Mozambique.

1 In 10 People May Face Malnutrition As Fish Catches Decline

12:40pm June 30, 2016

by Clare Leschin-Hoar

Many people around the world rely on fish not just for protein but for critical micronutrients like iron and zinc. So declining fisheries pose major risks for global health, scientists warn.

Personality Can Change Over A Lifetime, And Usually For The Better

11:46am June 30, 2016

by Christopher Soto

Psychologists have been arguing for decades over whether personality traits are real or a myth. More recent research shows that traits are real, a scientist says, and have a big effect on behavior.

Hannah Birch and David Sleight/Propublica

Doctors At Southern Hospitals Take The Most Payments From Drug, Device Companies

7:44pm June 29, 2016

A hospital's location and whether it is for-profit make a big difference in the share of its doctors taking industry payments like meals, travel and speaking fees. Check out the ProPublica analysis.

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Glenn Baker, 44, stands in his South Side apartment that is paid for by a program of the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago.

A Hospital Offers Frequent ER Patients An Out — Free Housing

6:22pm June 29, 2016

by Miles Bryan

Glenn Baker is what hospitals call a superutilizer, coming into the ER again and again with multiple health issues made worse by homelessness. So a Chicago hospital decided to offer him a home.

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Virginia Anderlini (right) was the first private client to try out Dr. Sonya Kim's new virtual reality program for the elderly, and says she's eager to see more. Kim's handful of programs are still at the demo stage.

Virtual Reality Aimed At The Elderly Finds New Fans

5:29pm June 29, 2016

by Kara Platoni

Some doctors are finding that virtual travel — to Venice, a Hawaiian beach or Africa — can open new worlds to people confined by low mobility, dementia or depression.

Ten-year-old Matthew Husby gets some low-tech comfort from his father after surgery at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif.

Doctors Get Creative To Soothe Tech-Savvy Kids Before Surgery

5:05pm June 29, 2016

by Jenny Gold

Surgery can be emotionally and physically stressful for children. A California anesthesiologist has come up with a way to reduce anxiety that's safer, cheaper and much more entertaining.

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HeLa cells, commonly used in research, were derived from cervical cancer cells taken in 1951 from Henrietta Lacks without her permission.

Heat On White House To Scrap Redo Of Human Research Rules

4:34pm June 29, 2016

by Rob Stein

The Obama administration's controversial proposal to revise human research rules is flawed and should be scrapped, says a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Chicago Residents Fight Crime One Vacant Lot At A Time

4:28pm June 29, 2016

by David Schaper

A Chicago program announced two years ago that allows homeowners in impoverished neighborhoods to buy vacant lots on their block for a dollar is off to a very slow start. Residents hoping to spruce up the lots, plant community gardens or turn them into gathering places are frustrated by slow city bureaucracy.

The open pit mine where the diamond was found. It's the largest uncovered in over a century.

When Botswana Sells Its Big Diamond, Who Will Benefit?

3:44pm June 29, 2016

by Nurith Aizenman

It's the largest found in over a century and is valued at $70 million. How much do sales like this help the country?

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