Health
Ketamine Shows Promise for Hard-to-Treat Depression in New Study

A new study suggests that, for some patients, the anesthetic ketamine is a promising alternative to electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, currently one of the quickest and most effective therapies for patients with difficult-to-treat depression. The study is the largest head-to-head comparison of the two treatments. Patients who don’t respond to at least two antidepressants — […]

Updated: May 26, 2023
A History of U.S. Surgeon General Warnings: Smoking, TV, Safer Sex and More

A warning issued by the United States surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, on Tuesday provided guidance about an issue that has been front of mind for American parents for years: the negative effects of social media on the mental health of young people. These types of public health advisories are infrequent, but sometimes become turning […]

Updated: May 23, 2023
Moving Is a Monumental Task for Many Older Americans. These Organizers Can Help.

The four-bedroom house that Ray and Beth Nygren had lived in for 20 years in Auburn, Wash., measured about 2,400 square feet. The two-bedroom apartment that awaited them in a nearby independent- and assisted-living complex was less than half that size. They were moving — “maybe a little reluctantly,” said their daughter, Bonnie Rae Nygren […]

Updated: May 20, 2023
Bird Flu Vaccine Authorized for Emergency Use in California Condors

Why It Matters: Condors are at high risk. The virus was first detected in a California condor found dead in late March. Since then, 20 more condors have died and four additional condors are currently in rehabilitation facilities, according to the federal agency. The virus has been confirmed in 15 of those birds. Condors appear […]

Updated: May 17, 2023
FDA Approves New Drug to Treat Hot Flashes

The News The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first nonhormonal medication to treat hot flashes in menopausal women, offering a potential remedy for the symptoms of overheating of the upper body and sweating that can be disruptive to daily life for years. The drug, to be marketed as Veozah, is the first […]

Updated: May 12, 2023
F.D.A. Eases Ban on Blood Donations From Gay and Bisexual Men

The News The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday that it had formally ended the agency’s wide-ranging prohibition on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, a longstanding policy that had been denounced as discriminatory. Instead, the F.D.A. is finalizing guidance that includes a questionnaire for all donors that is aimed at learning about […]

Updated: May 11, 2023
Corporate Giants Buy Up Primary Care Practices at Rapid Pace

It’s no surprise that the shortage of primary care doctors — who are critically important to the health of Americans — is getting worse. They practice in one of medicine’s lowest paid, least glamorous fields. Most are overworked, seeing as many as 30 people a day; figuring out when a sore throat is a strep […]

Updated: May 8, 2023
Living and Breathing on the Front Line of a Toxic Chemical Zone

“Communities don’t stop breathing during a hurricane,” Michael S. Regan, the E.P.A. administrator, said last month, standing in front of a plastics plant in St. John the Baptist Parish, in Louisiana, as he announced some of the proposed rules. In the Houston area, many neighbors of the López family in Deer Park work at the […]

Updated: May 5, 2023
Australia Aims to ‘Stamp Out’ Vaping With Sweeping Regulations

The Australian government said it wanted to crack down on the use of e-cigarettes in an effort to “reduce smoking and stamp out vaping” in one of the most sweeping tobacco regulatory moves in the country in years. The proposal, announced on Tuesday, would ban all single-use, disposable vapes; stop the importation of nonprescription vapes; […]

Updated: May 2, 2023
Scientist Revisits Data on Raccoon Dogs and Covid, Stressing the Unknowns

A new study of genetic data from a market in Wuhan, China, said the data did not support the case that the pandemic had started with illegally traded animals, touching off fresh debate about samples that other scientists see as critical pieces of the puzzle of how the coronavirus reached humans. The new study, which […]

Updated: Apr 29, 2023