Diet
The Weight Game: How Body-Size Bias Can Hold Back Health Science
For decades, assumptions about weight have clouded our view of health
Public Health3596 articles archived since 1845
Public Health
After Surgery, Black Children Are More Likely to Die Than White Children
A study of nearly 200 U.S. medical centers found that even apparently healthy kids suffer racial disparities in complications associated with surgery
Public Health
We Can’t Fight COVID-19 on a Country-by-Country Basis
A physician in hard-hit South Africa points out that squelching the disease in one place means nothing if it’s raging elsewhere
Public Health
Why Racism, Not Race, Is a Risk Factor for Dying of COVID-19
Public health specialist and physician Camara Phyllis Jones talks about ways that jobs, communities and health care leave Black Americans more exposed and less protected
Public Health
Inequality before Birth Contributes to Health Inequality in Adults
Improving newborn health is more essential now than ever
Public Health
The Biden Administration Should Offer Free At-Home COVID Testing
The federal testing strategy has tried to improve availability but still puts the burden on people to find expensive tests that are often in short supply
Public Health
How Severe Are Omicron Infections?
A rapidly spreading variant could dangerously strain health-care systems, even if the severe disease risk is relatively low for an individual
Public Health
Rapid COVID Tests Could Help Curb Infections--Especially During the Holidays
An expert answers questions about when and how to use the tests
Public Health
COVID Variants Hint at How the Virus Will Evolve
The rapid spread of new variants such as Omicron offers clues to how SARS-CoV-2 is adapting and how the pandemic will play out over the next several months
Epidemiology
COVID Quickly, Episode 20: The Omicron Scare, and Anti-COVID Pills Are Coming
Today we bring you a new episode in our podcast series COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American ’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between...
Public Health
COVID’s Cardiac Connection
Coronavirus infections might cause lasting harm to the heart even in those who have never had symptoms
Public Health
Why COVID Deaths Have Surpassed AIDS Deaths in the U.S.
On World AIDS Day, why global COVID deaths are a fraction of global AIDS deaths
Epidemiology
Do Childhood Colds Help the Body Respond to COVID?
A mechanism known as “original antigenic sin” protects some people from flu. Whether it helps immune reactions to coronaviruses is still unclear
Cancer
The COVID Cancer Effect
Oncologists are grappling with predicting—and mitigating—the effects of the pandemic
Physiology
COVID Can Cause Strange Eye and Ear Symptoms
From conjunctivitis to vertigo, coronavirus infections can affect disparate senses
Vaccines
This Cheap Device Could Expand the World’s Access to Vaccines
A new delivery method for certain vaccines could make the lifesaving treatments more effective and accessible
Public Health
How Do People Resist COVID Infections?
Immune cells might abort SARS-CoV-2 infection, forestalling a positive PCR or antibody test, a study in hospital workers suggests
Public Health
Essential Links in the Immunity Web
Children have fared better with the virus than adults. Immunologists are still trying to figure out why
Climate Change
Pandemic Economic Recovery Could Worsen Climate Change Health Impacts
By continuing to subsidize fossil fuels, recovery plans could exacerbate threats from diseases such as malaria, cholera and dengue fever
Climate Change
Heat Waves in Seville Will Be Named and Ranked like Hurricanes
The Spanish city is the first to undertake such a scheme in an effort to better warn residents of the health threats from heat
