Health & Safety

Dr. Leana Wen became Baltimore's health commissioner on Thursday.

Why I Left The ER To Run Baltimore's Health Department

8:56am January 16, 2015

by Leana Wen

Dr. Leana Wen decided to leave frontline medical care to tend to the city of Baltimore's health needs. Geography and circumstance shouldn't determine someone's health destiny, she says.

Erica Johnson prays before her meal. She volunteers at the food pantry at John Still school where three of her four children are students. She eats alone after she feeds her kids.

Beyond Free Lunch: Schools Open Food Pantries For Hungry Families

9:33pm January 15, 2015

by Julia Mitric

More than 8 million U.S. children don't get enough to eat. In Sacramento, Calif., one school is helping families cope by sending students home for the weekend with backpacks full of groceries.

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Dennie and Kathy Wright sift through a stack of medical bills at their home in Indian Valley, Calif.

Limited Insurance Choices Frustrate Patients In California

8:39pm January 15, 2015

by Pauline Bartolone

California is seen as an Obamacare success story. But tens of thousands of people in the northern part of the state have only one insurer available on the health plan exchange.

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Employees of the U.S. Radium Corp. paint numbers on the faces of wristwatches using dangerous radioactive paint. Dozens of women, known as "radium girls," later died of radium poisoning. One of the last radium girls died this year at 107.

Mae Keane, One Of The Last 'Radium Girls,' Dies At 107

2:49pm January 15, 2015

by Rebecca Hersher

In the 1920s, working-class women were hired to paint radium onto glowing watch dials — and told to sharpen the brush with their lips. Dozens died within a few years, but Keane quit, and survived.

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Jasjit Kaur Singh, an Indian chef, cooks kaala channa, a traditional spicy Sikh dish. A psychologist says that children who grow up in cultures with lots of spicy food are taught to like spice early on.

How Do We Grow To Like The Foods We Once Hated?

2:43pm January 15, 2015

by Alison Bruzek

A psychologist says we have to be taught to like chili pepper and other foods we may initially dislike. The experience of eating it often somehow converts what's an aversion to a preference, he says.

Working Longer Hours Can Mean Drinking More

12:21pm January 15, 2015

by Patti Neighmond

Working more than 48 hours a week makes risky drinking more likely, a study of people in 14 countries finds. And that held true for rich and poor, men and women.

This photo was taken in November, a tough month for Sierra Leone, with Ebola cases reportedly on the rise. A staff member is disinfecting an office where Dr. Komba Songu M'Briwah talks on the phone.

Prediction: All Predictions About Ebola Are Unpredictable

10:55am January 15, 2015

by Jason Beaubien

A million cases by the end of 2014. On the wane in Guinea in August. Coming soon to every major U.S. city. Predictions about Ebola frequently don't come true — and there's a reason for that.

Tax Time Gets New Ritual: Proof Of Health Insurance

8:32am January 15, 2015

by Michelle Andrews

The health law requires people to report their coverage status at tax time. Those without insurance or those who received subsidies will have to fill out new forms.

U.S. funding for medical research by source, 1994-2012. (Data were adjusted to 2012 dollars using the Biomedical Research and Development Price Index.)

U.S. Funding of Health Research Stalls As Other Nations Rev Up

8:32am January 15, 2015

by Richard Harris

It's not just government-sponsored medical research that's dwindled in the last few years in the U.S. Drug firms have curbed their investment, too, especially in early-stage hunts for new drugs.

A comic book captures the attention  of Guinea worm patients Sadia Mesuna (right) and Fatawu Yakubu at a center for patients in Ghana.

Control, Eliminate, Eradicate A Disease: What's The Difference?

5:43pm January 14, 2015

by Diane Cole

We've eradicated smallpox. But we can only hope to control malaria. A new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History explains how disease fighters set and pursue their goals.