Perfectly Awesome

A case study digs into the medical records of a lost diver’s incredible survival story.

Could a theory from the science of perception help crack the mysteries of psychosis?

A surprising number of people experience symptoms of this curious condition, which is named after Lewis Carroll's heroine, who changed size after eating and drinking.

Humanity's engineering achievements have been extraordinary, so why has building an artificial heart has proved to be more challenging than expected.

The Wuhan lab at the center of suspicions about the pandemic’s onset was far more troubled than known, documents unearthed by a Senate team reveal. Tracing the evidence, Vanity Fair and ProPublica give the clearest view yet of a biocomplex in crisis.

Scientists are grasping for any example that could help anticipate the future of Covid, even a mysterious respiratory pandemic that spread in the late 19th century.

Physicians suffer one of the highest burnout rates among professionals. Dr. Kimberly Becher, one of two family practitioners in Clay County, West Virginia, learned the hard way.

It’s time to ditch the biological clock, run to the nearest fair and jump back on that metaphoric roller-coaster known as your life

“I know how lucky I am, and secretly tap wood, greet the day, and grab a sneaky pleasure from my survival at long odds.”

The first successful transplantation may solve a donor shortage, but this major scientific advancement is not without challenges.

After a chunk of his brain was removed, guitarist Pat Martino got his groove back.

Scientists discovered a previously unidentified genetic mutation in a Scottish woman. They hope it could lead to the development of new pain treatment.

In 1721, London was in the grips of a deadly smallpox epidemic. One woman learned how to stop it, but her solution sowed political division.

When a private-equity firm bought a Philadelphia institution, the most vulnerable patients bore the cost.

Just before Alex Godfrey’s grandmother died from dementia, she snapped back to lucidity and regaled him with stories of her youth. Could moments like this teach us more about the human brain?

In her quest to master a quintessential cool-kid trick, Outside contributor Kim Cross found the sweet spot at the crossroads of work and play

Millions of hearts fail each year. Why can’t we replace them?

Dr. Donald Johnson has spent his career making crime scene blood stains spill their secrets. His next mission: bringing forensic science into the iPad age.

Plano surgeon Christopher Duntsch left a trail of bodies. The shocking story of a madman with a scalpel.

The mistakes and the struggles behind America’s coronavirus tragedy.

Cancer surgery for $700, a heart bypass for $2,000. Pretty good, but under India’s new health-care system, it’s not good enough.

Pathogens that switch to a new host species have some adapting to do. How does that affect the course of a pandemic like Covid-19?

“N of 1” studies aim to answer medical questions one person at a time

One man's unlikely journey from servant and prisoner of war to bodybuilding champion—with an epic, trans-continental love story along the way.

In the typical emergency room, demand far outpaces the care that workers can provide. Can the E.R. be fixed?

A controversial disease revives the debate about the immune system and mental illness.

Forensic scientists, the police and crime scene investigators master horror with a steady hand. This article gives a rare insight into the post-mortem examination of a homicide.

‘Each box was like the distillation of all that we have learned as a species about our bodies and their infirmities, a time capsule of medicine.’

When a promising student left a neighborhood full of heroin for the University of Pennsylvania, it should have been a moving story. But what does an at-risk student actually need to thrive — or even just to survive?

Omar Salgado defied the odds in Room 20. But his is not a story about a miracle — it’s a story about medicine’s inability to accurately diagnose consciousness.

Finding out his name turned out to be the easy part. The tough part was navigating the blurred lines that separate consciousness from unconsciousness — and figuring out whether his smile was really a smile.

Humans and other mammals and birds would have been killed many times over by Chernobyl's radiation that plants in the most contaminated areas received. So why is plant life so resilient to radiation and nuclear disaster?

Mathematical insights into how RNA helps viruses pull together their protein shells could guide future studies of viral behavior and function.

The Oman Desert Marathon was my first ultra marathon. It was just over 100 miles (165km) across the baking sand. I didn’t really want to do it. It only came up as an idea when an editor from The Fi…

After multiple rare cancers have been diagnosed in Waycross, Georgia, the city grapples with a profound question: What if the industries that gave us life are killing us?

Doctors removed one-sixth of this boy’s brain — and what was left did something incredible

Joshua Mezrich has performed hundreds of kidney, liver and pancreas transplants. He shares stories from the operating room in his book, When Death Becomes Life.

[caption id="attachment_78739" align="aligncenter" width="483"] Close-up of an Auzoux anatomic male manikin, made of hand-painted papier mâché, circa 18...

Prior to 1976, the FDA did not regulate medical implants, and so shoddy and even deadly devices proliferated, inserted into Americans' body. When the FDA finally decided to regulate implants,…

From trauma to arrhythmia, and back again.

After suffering a stroke, a woman was left blinded, only able to see movement.

At 18, Katie Stubblefield lost her face. At 21, she became the youngest person in the U.S. to undergo the still experimental surgery. Follow her incredible story.

The Four Thieves Vinegar Collective is a network of tech-fueled anarchists taking on Big Pharma with DIY medicines.

There’s an illusion that if you want something enough, even something as fantastical as avoiding death, you might just get it.