Your Health

Genetically modified mosquitoes are released in Piracicaba, Brazil, in an effort to combat Zika virus. These mosquitoes were modified using conventional techniques.

New Genetic Engineering Method Called Promising — And Perilous

5:06pm June 08, 2016

by Rob Stein

A technology known as a gene drive might be deployed to re-engineer species and stop diseases like malaria. But a scientific advisory panel says research and use should proceed with great caution.

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FDA Moves To Speed Access To Compassionate-Use Drugs

5:00am June 08, 2016

by Rachel Bluth

A simplified form should make it easier for doctors to treat seriously ill patients with experimental drugs after other options run out. But that's not the only obstacle to compassionate use.

Zunika Crenshaw helps her 3-year-old daughter Jhase Crenshaw Bass with an asthma inhaler.

Scientists Seek Genetic Clues To Asthma's Toll On Black Children

10:18pm June 07, 2016

by Lesley McClurg

Most genetic studies look only at people of European descent. But black and Hispanic children are far more likely to die of asthma, and genetic differences may help explain why.

Did revised federal standards make transplant centers more averse to risk and encourage them to drop sicker patients who might affect the hospitals' patient survival rates?

Federal Standard May Be Thwarting Some Liver Transplant Patients

11:38am June 07, 2016

by Michelle Andrews

Researchers report that performance standards set by federal health officials may have led to many patients being dropped from transplant lists without an improvement in survival rates.

A common house mosquito (Culex pipiens) is about to sink her six-weaponed proboscis into a human arm. This type transmits West Nile virus by biting infected birds, then biting humans.

WATCH: Mosquitoes Use 6 Needles To Suck Your Blood

11:00am June 07, 2016

by Gabriela Quirós

Beyond pesky, mosquitoes kill hundreds of thousands of people worldwide each year. And the bites aren't random. A mouth packed with sensors, drills, spears and straws guides the bug to blood.

Seth Barker of Maine Fresh Sea Farms checks a seaweed line. People have foraged wild seaweed off the Eastern Seaboard for centuries. But now a much more active effort to grow seaweed in the U.S. is afoot.

Seaweed On Your Dinner Plate: The Next Kale Could Be Kelp

3:47pm June 06, 2016

by Fred Bever

Why are chefs adopting sea greens in their cuisine? They're tasty and nutritious, and growing them is good for the planet. Maine's budding seaweed business is boosting an endangered coastal economy.

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Children sometimes can run a fever after getting a vaccine.

Febrile Seizures After Childhood Vaccines Are Rare, Study Finds

1:22pm June 06, 2016

by Tara Haelle

Seizures caused by fever are frightening, even though they don't harm long term. And a few vaccines do slightly raise the risk of a febrile seizure. But not being vaccinated poses a greater risk.

Linda Johns, lower row center, in the first moments of her heart attack. She's with fellow authors Kristen Kittscher, Kirby Larson, Suzanne Selfors, Sara Nickerson and Jennifer Longo at Queen Anne Book Company in Seattle.

Guess Which Woman Is Having A Heart Attack (Hint: You Can't)

5:00am June 04, 2016

by Linda Johns

Linda Johns was in the midst of a presentation at a Seattle bookstore when she suddenly felt intense flulike symptoms. But it wasn't flu. It was a heart attack, a type that hits healthy young women.

Army's Smart Earplug Damps Explosive Noise, But Can Enhance Whispers

12:47pm June 03, 2016

by Joe Palca

Many combatants return from the battlefield with hearing loss. The U.S. Army has begun deploying a "smart earplug" system that can protect hearing without blocking crucial sounds.

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A silver-haired bat, the type that transmitted rabies to a woman in Wyoming after apparently biting her while she slept.

Bats In The Bedroom Can Spread Rabies Without An Obvious Bite

2:37pm June 02, 2016

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

When a Wyoming woman fell ill, no one suspected that she could have rabies from a bat in her bedroom. Health officials say sleeping in a room with a bat is a rabies risk because bites are hard to see.