Health
The Only Cure for OCD Is Expensive, Elusive, and Scary
The best treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder forces sufferers to confront their fears. But for many patients, the treatment is far out of reach.
-
![]()
Eric Gaillard / Reuters The Authoritarian Minds of Preschoolers
A new study explores how children develop a preference for equality and fairness—research that seems relevant as America prepares to elect its next president.
-
Adopting an Embryo
Here’s a very rare experience that we haven’t seen in our reader series yet: embryo adoption. It’s a middle ground…
-
![]()
Matt Rourke / AP Trump's Health Plan: Pay Your Own Medical Bills Using Money You Saved
The candidate called a special ‘meeting’ to discuss the future of medicine. Here’s how that went.
-
![]()
Spike Mafford / Getty Why Some Women Still Can't Get Birth Control
Even after Obamacare, millions of women are uninsured and live in counties with few family-planning clinics.
-
![]()
Jerry Mosey / AP The Different Stakes of Male and Female Birth Control
A clinical trial of contraceptives for men was halted because of side effects—side effects that women have dealt with for decades.
-
Born With Two Vaginas—Then Giving Birth
Yesterday we heard from a reader with uterus didelphys, a genetic condition that forms two vaginas, two cervixes, and two…
-
![]()
Mario Anzuoni / Reuters When National Turmoil Becomes Personal Anxiety
The hateful rhetoric and high stakes of the 2016 U.S. election are causing people emotional distress—as politics and uncertain futures have done throughout history.
-
Born With Two Vaginas
A reader writes: I have uterus didelphys—a.k.a. having two uteri, two cervixes, and two…
-
‘It Felt Like Something of Mine Was Stolen’
Among the many emails we’ve received from readers struggling with infertility, one of the emotions that keeps coming…
-
![]()
USDA The Dairy Industry Lost $420 Million From a Flaw in a Single Bull
Farmers have quadrupled how much milk a typical cow can make, but there are hidden downsides.
-
![]()
Jonathan Ernst / Reuters Do You Know More About Health Than Donald Trump?
The candidate lacks a basic understanding of the enormous problems with American medical care.
-
‘Infertility Is Brutal on Marriage’—or Not?
Below are two very different reactions to our previous note, “When Infertility Threatens Marriage,” which featured…
-
Born Without a Vas Deferens—and the Guilt That Followed
This next reader shows a lot of self-awareness and self-reflection over the trying process he put his wife through, and…
-
‘Still Waiting for Father’s Day’
This story from a 39-year-old reader is totally heartbreaking. He and his wife not only struggled for years to conceive—suffering…
-
![]()
Gary Cameron / Reuters Can Ginger Ale Really Soothe Nausea?
The drink has been a folk remedy since its invention, and the spice has been used for digestive problems since ancient times.
-
![]()
Pep Boatella / Spectrum How ‘Shock Therapy’ Is Saving Some Children With Autism
Electroconvulsive therapy is far more beneficial—and banal—than its torturous reputation suggests.
-
![]()
Pilar Olivares / Reuters The Answer to Zika May Be More Mosquitos
Insects that have been implanted with a virus-blocking bacterium will finally be tested at large scales, over two cities in Brazil and Colombia.
-
When Infertility Threatens a Marriage
A reader writes: I’m 36 and I’ve been struggling with infertility for a bit over a year…
-
![]()
NIAID How One Man Was Wrongly Blamed for Bringing AIDS to America
HIV arrived in the U.S. from Haiti a decade before the first cases were identified—and well before the so-called Patient Zero contracted the virus.
-
‘I Made a $15,000 Bet on My Body and Feel Like I Lost’
The first story in our new reader series comes from a 33-year-old woman who has struggled to conceive for more…
