Your Health

A Scientist's Mission To Break The Itch-Scratch Cycle

2:49pm August 14, 2014

Dr. Gil Yosipovitch is a leading scientist in the field of itch. He says he hopes to gain more respect for the debilitating power of chronic itch — and to get more doctors on the search for a cure.

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Truvada, an FDA-approved drug to help prevent HIV infection, is among the AIDS drugs that fill pharmacy shelves at the Whitman-Walker clinic, a Washington, D.C., community health center.

Preventing HIV With Medicine Can Carry A Stigma

2:57pm August 11, 2014

by Jim Burress

No doctor would refuse to prescribe cholesterol-lowering statins to patients because they're overweight. But despite guidelines, some doctors aren't offering preventive drugs to those at risk for HIV.

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Traditional warning labels on medicine boxes tend to be long on confusing language, critics say, but short on helpful numbers.

Health & Safety

How Well Does A Drug Work? Look Beyond The Fine Print

12:31pm August 01, 2014

by NPR staff

A husband and wife who are doctors have been working on fact boxes for drugs that, like nutrition labels for foods, would more concisely convey a medicine's benefits and risks.

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Brian Zikmund-Fisher with his wife, Naomi, and daughter, Eve, in 1999, after he had a bone marrow transplant. He says he made the decision to have the treatment based on factors he couldn't quantify.

Health & Safety

What The Odds Fail To Capture When A Health Crisis Hits

4:40pm July 22, 2014

by Robert Siegel

Making health decisions based on the odds can be an extremely difficult thing to do when you're a patient, even for people who study the science of how we make decisions.

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Health & Safety

Between Stress And Poor Health, A Two-Way Street Tread By Many

7:56pm July 07, 2014

NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a nationwide poll about the stress felt by Americans, where it comes from and what they do about it. Reporter Richard Knox cherry-picks some of the more interesting results for Robert Siegel.

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One of three marijuana plants growing in the backyard of a 65-year-old retiree from Pompano Beach, Fla. He grows and smokes his own "happy grass" to alleviate pain.

Entrepreneurs Buzzing Over Medical Marijuana In Florida

9:57am June 30, 2014

by Greg Allen

Polls show that Sunshine State voters are likely to approve a measure legalizing medical marijuana in November. Businesses are already flocking to the state, eager to set up shop.

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The company Proteus has developed a computer that attaches to a pill and tracks the pill's absorption into the body. The technology has passed clinical trials.

Health & Safety

Someday Soon You May Swallow A Computer With Your Pill

9:24am June 20, 2014

by Alexis Madrigal

Fresh Air tech contributor Alexis Madrigal explains how a tiny computer attaches to a pill you ingest to record how your body responds. It sounds crazy, he says, but it was approved by the FDA.

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Current water-filtering technology is costly, but MIT scientists are testing a simpler and cheaper method that uses wood from white pine trees.

To Clean Drinking Water, All You Need Is A Stick

3:25pm May 27, 2014

by Joe Palca

Removing bacteria and other impurities from water could be done more cheaply thanks to researchers at MIT. They're taking advantage of the way trees move water to filter it.

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Work can be rough, but a researcher has found that for many people, being at home is more stressful than being at the office.

Health & Safety

Think Work Is Stressful? For Many, It's More Relaxing Than Home

9:41am May 23, 2014

by Jennifer Ludden

Many people say their jobs stress them out, but new research finds that for most people — parents and nonparents alike — the most relaxing part of the day is when they're at the office.

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Klotho (right) is one of the three Greek Fates depicted in this Flemish tapestry at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Anti-Aging Hormone Could Make You Smarter

7:49pm May 08, 2014

by Jon Hamilton

Scientists have found that a hormone associated with long life also seems to make people smarter. The gene strengthens the connections between brain cells, a process that's essential for learning.

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