Humans

Health & Medicine

Pills of frozen poop fight killer disease

Popping poop pills? Of course it sounds yucky. But researchers find it might just be one of the most effective ways to knock out a very serious — and tough-to-kill — intestinal disease.

Microbes

Explainer: What is C. difficile?

Over the past two decades, these severe bacterial infections have evolved from a no-big-deal occurrence to a common, life-threatening problem.

Health & Medicine

Strong body helps the mind

Study finds new link between the body and brain in mice and may help explain how exercise heals.

Health & Medicine

Exercise builds brawn — and brains

One 20-minute session of leg exercises improved memory recall by about 10 percent.

Health & Medicine

News Brief: First cases of Ebola acquired outside Africa

Health workers who had worn extensive protective gear still became infected with Ebola while treating patients in Spain and the United States.

Brain

The distracted teenage brain

Teens often show poor judgment in decision-making. Scientists have long blamed this on the fact that their brains are still developing. A new study offers another explanation: distractions form rewarding behaviors — ones that persist even after the reward itself has disappeared.

Health & Medicine

Artificial sweeteners may evict good gut microbes

People use saccharin and other artificial sweeteners to try to stay healthy. A study now suggests such sweeteners might actually cause harm by encouraging the wrong bacteria to grow in our guts.

Health & Medicine

News Brief: U.S. gets its first Ebola case

Although U.S. hospitals have treated a handful of American health-care workers who had become exposed to Ebola in Africa, the first case of a sick traveller has emerged. His Ebola infection showed no symptoms until several days after he reached Texas. (Update: On October 8, the man died.)

Archaeology

Pyramids’ blocks: Possibly rock ‘n’ rolled

No one knows how the ancient Egyptians moved the big stones needed to build their pyramids. A new study suggests they could have rolled them, by attaching wooden posts to the sides.

Health & Medicine

Ebola epidemic could top 1 million, CDC warns

The deadly Ebola epidemic ravaging West Africa has now infected more people than in all previous outbreaks put together. And still the numbers of the sick and dying continue to grow, not shrink.

Brain

Eating disorders: The brain’s foul trickery

Experts on eating disorders are probing why sometimes deadly chemical changes can distort how much the brain says we need to eat.

Health & Medicine

Recovery help from the blogosphere

And some who have been there now are sharing tips on what it takes to become a successful survivor.