Health & Safety

The food industry has processed lots of foods to hit that "bliss point" — that perfect amount of sweetness that would send eaters over the moon. In doing so, it's added sweetness in plenty of unexpected places – like bread and pasta sauce, says inves

How The Food Industry Helps Engineer Our Cravings

2:48pm December 16, 2015

by Here & Now Staff

To make foods irresistible, the food industry has added sweetness in unexpected places — like bread and pasta sauce. That's helped shape our cravings but may also be coming back to bite the industry.

Thomas Laqueur is a professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley. His other books include Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud and Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation.

Bodies Through Time: A Historian Traces Our Evolving Relationship With The Dead

12:40pm December 16, 2015

Thomas Laqueur, author of The Work of the Dead, discusses the ways people have dealt with human remains over the course of history. Modern cemeteries, he says, are byproducts of the French Revolution.

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Obamacare Enrollment Extended To Accommodate Last-Minute Demand

12:12pm December 16, 2015

by Alison Kodjak

Faced with 1 million people who left voice mails saying they wanted to buy health insurance, the federal government is giving people two more days to sign up on the federal exchange.

Health & Safety

Lack Of Diversity In Clinical Trials Presents Possible Health Consequences

10:30pm December 15, 2015

by Rae Ellen Bichell

Despite striking ethnic disparities in the incidence and mortality of diseases like cancer and respiratory disease, minorities are not well represented in clinical trials. A paper out in the journal PLOS Medicine says two main barriers to achieving diverse clinical trials are the expense of recruiting minority subjects, and fears of exploitation in medical research.

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Martha Lucia (from left), Bienvendida Barreno and Jorge Baquero discuss health insurance options with agents from Sunshine Life and Health Advisors at a Miami mall last month.

Obamacare Sign-Ups Could Get A Bump As Higher Penalties Kick In

9:14pm December 15, 2015

by Alison Kodjak

The deadline for buying health insurance that starts Jan. 1 has arrived. Many people who lack coverage in 2016 will face fines that could reach thousands of dollars.

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Sovaldi can cure hepatitis C, but the medicine carries a list price of $1,000 a pill. The typical 12-week course of treatment would cost $84,000.

Hepatitis Drug Among The Most Costly For Medicaid

6:52pm December 15, 2015

by Alison Kodjak

A Senate investigation finds that Medicaid programs in 33 states spent more than $1 billion on the hepatitis C drug Sovaldi in a single year.

Usha Devi, who was treated for cervical cancer, prays at her house in Mumbai, India. Cervical cancer is one of the top four cancers in the developing world.

Most Of The World's Cancer Cases Are Now In Developing Countries

6:36pm December 15, 2015

by Maanvi Singh

That's the news from an analysis that maps out cancer hot spots. Developing countries are now struggling to cope with this growing threat.

The University of Toronto's solar-powered pond aerator could help fish farmers in Bangladesh earn up to $250 of extra income a year.

A SkyMall For Farmers Would Have Fish Bubblers And Poop-Powered Coolers

6:23pm December 15, 2015

by Malaka Gharib

A milk chiller run on manure. A sun-powered pond aerator. These are some of the creative ideas that could change the game for the world's poorest farmers.

Trump's campaign released a summary of his medical history on Monday.

Doctor: Trump Would Be 'Healthiest Individual Ever Elected' President

6:00pm December 14, 2015

by Jessica Taylor

A statement from the GOP presidential candidate's personal physician is full of hyperbole, calling Trump's blood pressure "astonishingly excellent."

Google pays tribute to yoga master Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar.

Bend It Like Iyengar — That's The Message Of Today's #GoogleDoodle

2:28pm December 14, 2015

by Marc Silver

As a child, he was struck by malaria, tuberculosis and typhoid. Yoga helped him regain his strength. And then he taught it to the world.