Public HealthJuly 19, 2023
How Stress Messes With Your Gut
Inflammatory bowel disease flare-ups can be traced to mental stress
Stories by Josh Fischman
Josh Fischman is a senior editor at Scientific American who covers medicine, biology and science policy. He has written and edited about science and health for Discover, Science, Earth, and U.S. News & World Report. Follow Josh Fischman on Twitter.
Health CareJuly 7, 2023
Doctor AI Will See You Now
ChatGPT and other AI programs can offer medical advice. But how good are they?
Public HealthJune 21, 2023
How to Cool Down Fast in Summer Heat
Your body has a secret cooling method, and scientists explain how to use it.
Mental HealthJune 12, 2023
MDMA Moves from Club Drug to Real Therapy
The party drug MDMA could soon be approved for treating people with severe PTSD.
Public HealthMay 24, 2023
The End of the COVID Emergency and What It Means for You
What you pay for tests, vaccines, and medicine will change
PsychologyMay 17, 2023
Understanding Dissociative Identity Disorder through the ‘Community’ of Ella
We learn the story of “Ella,” a patient with 12 different personalities, or “parts,” and of her therapist, who helped her form a peaceful community—many selves in one body and mind.
ReproductionMay 10, 2023
A 19th-Century Obscenity Law Is Being Used Again to Limit Abortion
Recent rulings on the abortion pill cite the Comstock Act, a 150-year-old law that’s still on the books
MedicineApril 26, 2023
The Bad Side of ‘Good’ Cholesterol
Very high HDL cholesterol levels almost double your risk of heart problems.
NutritionApril 12, 2023
We Have Good News for Coffee Lovers
A careful new study reveals coffee is generally safe for your heart and may boost your daily step count.
Public HealthMarch 29, 2023
Long COVID’s Roots in the Brain: Your Health, Quickly, Episode 3
Post-COVID symptoms can linger for months or years, and more and more evidence points to problems with the nervous system.
VaccinesMarch 15, 2023
RSV Vaccines Are Coming At Last: Your Health, Quickly, Episode 2
A vaccine pioneer tells us that shots to protect against RSV—a dangerous virus for babies and older people—are finally nearing approval.
Public HealthMarch 1, 2023
The Pandemic’s Mental Toll, and Does Telehealth Work? Your Health, Quickly, Episode 1
Hosts Josh Fischman and Tanya Lewis explore the pandemic’s mental health toll on teens and young adults. They also delve into the effectiveness of telehealth, which has been booming since the start of the pandemic.
VaccinesDecember 6, 2022
How Vaccines Saved Money and Lives and China’s Zero-COVID Protests: COVID, Quickly Podcast, Episode 44
Vaccines saved New York City billions of dollars, and China faces public fury over its strict virus-control policies.
VaccinesOctober 25, 2022
New Halloween ‘Scariant’ Variants and Boosting Your Immunity: COVID, Quickly, Episode 41
In a new episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, we talk about the variants that are likely to be around this winter and how boosters help even if you’ve already had the disease.
EpidemiologyOctober 11, 2022
How the Pandemic Shortened Life Expectancy and New Drugs on the Horizon: COVID, Quickly, Episode 40
In this episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, we talk about why we’ve had years shaved off our average collective life since 2020. Also, we talk about “mabs” and why you might want to know what they are.
Basic ChemistryOctober 5, 2022
2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded for a New Way of Building Molecules
Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless share the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering an easy way to “click” molecular building blocks together
Public HealthSeptember 27, 2022
What the Disease Feels Like, and Presidents Can’t End Pandemics: COVID, Quickly, Episode 39
On this episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, Josh Fischman gets COVID, and President Joe Biden says the pandemic is over.
VaccinesSeptember 13, 2022
Unvaxxed Kids and 8 Days a Week (of Isolation): COVID, Quickly, Episode 38
This is our second back-to-school special episode of COVID. Quickly. Today we talk about two big issues: the low vaccination rates among the littlest kids and how long you should quarantine after being sick (actually).
Public HealthAugust 30, 2022
Back-to-School Special: Kids, Tests and Long COVID Reassurance: COVID, Quickly, Episode 37
This is our back-to-school special episode of COVID, Quickly. We’ll talk about why COVID testing is about to become a school problem—and about whether or not kids are at risk for long COVID.
VaccinesAugust 16, 2022
Monkeypox Update and Homing in on Long COVID: COVID, Quickly, Episode 36
On this episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, we take a few minutes to talk about the other virus making headlines—and then return to long COVID.
VaccinesAugust 2, 2022
How Common Are Reinfections? And How Trust Can Beat the Virus: COVID, Quickly, Episode 35
On this episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, we talk about getting reinfected with the coronavirus just a month or two after an earlier bout—and the difference that trusting others can make in a pandemic.
VaccinesJuly 12, 2022
Omicron’s Nasty New Variants and Better Boosters to Battle Them: COVID, Quickly, Episode 34
On this episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, we talk about the increase in new Omicron subvariants. Should fall vaccine boosters contain standard Omicron or some of those new subvariants instead?
VaccinesJune 27, 2022
Kids’ Vaccines at Last and Challenges in Making New Drugs: COVID, Quickly, Episode 33
On this episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, we discuss some parents breathing a collective sigh of relief and the paradox of how effective vaccines can make it harder to create new drugs to treat patients who get the coronavirus.
VaccinesJune 13, 2022
COVID Death Rates Explained, Dismal Booster Stats and New Vaccines
On this episode of the COVID, Quickly podcast, we clear up some data misconceptions, get to the bottom of the booster uptake issue and talk Novavax.