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Your Health

Some Things You Can Do In Your Sleep, Literally

By Alison Bruzek

For those who think there are not enough hours in the day, researchers may have just offered you a solution. The brain can continue tasks even while asleep, a study finds. Texting not included, alas.

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Ikon Images/Corbis

Suicides Rise In Middle-Aged Men, And Older Men Remain At Risk

Mountains of "little blue pills" and their chemical kin have transformed the way many people think about sex and aging.Raphael Gaillarde/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Imageshide caption

i toggle captionRaphael Gaillarde/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

Love And Sex In The Time Of Viagra — 16 Years On

Alberto Ruggieri/Corbis

Can I Buy Insurance After Being Injured In An Accident? KHN

Dr. Lester Minto closes his clinic, Reproductive Services of Harlingen, after 35 years. Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/Zuma Press hide caption

itoggle caption Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/Zuma Press

A Doctor Who Performed Abortions In South Texas Makes His Case

by Wade Goodwyn

September 11, 2014 • Texas restrictions on abortion providers have led many clinics to close. Poor women in some spots, like the Rio Grande Valley along the Mexican border, have lost their access to abortion services.

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When does a diet drug tip the balance for health? iStockphoto hide caption

itoggle caption iStockphoto

FDA Approves New Diet Pill That's Made Of Old Medicines

by Scott Hensley

September 11, 2014 • Contrave will be available in pharmacies this fall. But the companies working on the drug's marketing won't say how much it will cost.

PCR tests like this can tell if a virus is an enterovirus, but they can't ID the new virus that has caused a surge in serious respiratory infections. BSIP / Science Source hide caption

itoggle caption BSIP / Science Source

Rare Virus Has Sickened Hundreds More Children, Hospitals Say

by Nancy Shute

September 11, 2014 • The rare virus is spreading fast, and doctors don't have an instant test to find out who has it. So parents should be ready to seek help quickly if a child has a cold that's rapidly getting worse.

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Leigh Wells/Ikon Images/Corbis

Some Things You Can Do In Your Sleep, Literally

by Alison Bruzek

September 11, 2014 • For those who think there are not enough hours in the day, researchers may have just offered you a solution. The brain can continue tasks even while asleep, a study finds. Texting not included, alas.

Men suffer more suicide deaths than women.

Ikon Images/Corbis

Suicides Rise In Middle-Aged Men, And Older Men Remain At Risk

by Alison Bruzek

September 10, 2014 • Researchers don't know why middle-aged men are increasingly likely to kill themselves. But they say it shows that efforts to reduce the toll of suicide should be focused on men.

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Researchers speculate that the Omega-3 fatty acids in fish may help maintain good blood flow to the inner ear. iStockphoto hide caption

itoggle caption iStockphoto

Women Who Eat Fish Twice Weekly Cut Their Risk Of Hearing Loss

by Allison Aubrey

September 10, 2014 • Something as simple as eating fish can help lower the risk of hearing loss, researchers say. All types of fish helped. And since many people don't eat fish at all, there's an opportunity here.

Does smoking pot make it less likely that you'll go to college? iStockphoto hide caption

itoggle caption iStockphoto

Heavier Teen Pot Smoking Linked To Problems In Young Adults

by Nancy Shute

September 10, 2014 • Daily smokers are less likely to graduate from high school or college and are at higher risk of suicide, according to an analysis of three long-term studies of teenagers in Australia and New Zealand.

Mountains of "little blue pills" and their chemical kin have transformed the way many people think about sex and aging. Raphael Gaillarde/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Raphael Gaillarde/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

Love And Sex In The Time Of Viagra — 16 Years On

by Ina Jaffe

September 9, 2014 • Longer lives means more decades of intimacy. Drugs that help male physiology match desire have affected more than just the body, men who take these pills say.

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Randen Patterson left a research career in physiology at U.C. Davis when funding got too tight. He now owns a grocery store in Guinda, Calif. Max Whittaker/Prime for NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Max Whittaker/Prime for NPR

When Scientists Give Up

by Richard Harris

September 9, 2014 • They were talented, idealistic risk-takers on the road to what they thought would be important medical discoveries. But when the funding for risk-takers dried up, these two academics called it quits.

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Helen Down holds her 14-month-old daughter, Amelia, for an MMR shot in Swansea, Wales, April 2013. The vaccination was in response to a measles outbreak. Geoff Caddick/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Geoff Caddick/AFP/Getty Images

Treatments

Get The Measles, Get Ready To Be Out For Two Weeks

by Nancy Shute

September 9, 2014 • Many people think of measles as a mild childhood illness. But people who got the measles during outbreaks in the United Kingdom say they were so sick they missed two weeks of school or work.

Some people have wondered if they can wait until they get sick to buy health coverage.

Alberto Ruggieri/Corbis

Your Health

Can I Buy Insurance After Being Injured In An Accident?

by Michelle Andrews

September 9, 2014 • The health law's ban on pre-existing conditions doesn't mean you can buy a plan after you get sick. Most people have to wait for the open enrollment period.

Leif Parsons for NPR

Health Inc.

U.S. Science Suffering From Booms And Busts In Funding

by Richard Harris and Robert Benincasa

September 9, 2014 • The federal budget for bioscience has undergone big swings since 2000. Some scientists are now out of work and others are abandoning the ambitious, creative ideas that fuel discovery.

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Alyson Hurt/NPR

Health Inc.

By The Numbers: Search NIH Grant Data By Institution

by Robert Benincasa, Richard Harris and Alyson Hurt

September 9, 2014 • Use NPR's interactive search box to create year-by-year charts of National Institutes of Health grants awarded to individual U.S. biomedical institutions and laboratories since 2000.

Lisa Schlager of Chevy Chase, Md., demonstrates outside of the Supreme Court as arguments were made in a case seeking to determine whether the BRCA breast cancer genes can be patented. The court ruled in 2013 that individual genes can't be patented. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty hide caption

itoggle caption Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty

Treatments

Researcher Urges Wider Genetic Screening For Breast Cancer

by Rob Stein

September 8, 2014 • Genetic tests are recommended for women with a family history of breast cancer. One researcher says all women should be screened, but others say there's not enough evidence that they are at risk.

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13-year-old Will Cornejo of Lone Tree, Colo., recovers at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children in Denver from what doctors suspect is enterovirus 68. His parents found him unconscious on the couch and called 911. He was flown to Denver for treatment. Cyrus McCrimmon/Denver Post/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Cyrus McCrimmon/Denver Post/Getty Images