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In Focus

The Case Against Vaping

As COVID-19 makes lung health a national concern, experts take another look at the dangers of e-cigarettes.

FARRAH KHERADMAND WAS PUZZLED by what she saw under the microscope. The slides contained lung tissue, stained purple and red, of mice that had been exposed to the aerosols produced by the “vaping” of electronic cigarettes. In the tissue, macrophages, a type of immune cell, were not only enlarged but also bulging with translucent fats....

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In Depth

When A Cure Can't Wait

COVID-19 treatment trials will need to be nimble. Is this the moment for adaptive designs to step into the limelight?

Everything Changes

Every tumor begins with a genetic mutation. Understanding how they occur and what they do may revolutionize cancer treatment.

The Personality Game

Character traits can influence heart health, cognitive decline and other health factors. Are people prisoners of their dispositions?

New Mothers on the Brink

They are dying at alarming rates in the United States. Treating mental illness, an often overlooked cause, could save many lives.

The Insomnia Genes

Poor sleep affects almost half of the country, and solutions have been hard to come by. Tracing the problem to its genetic roots may stop the tossing and turning.

The Primary Problem

Long the bedrock of medicine, the practice of primary care has been in need of a reinvention. Several models show promise. None of them will be cheap.

The Art of Active Surveillance

Sometimes prostate cancer is best served by a wait-and-see approach. Yet many patients and doctors can't stand the thought of doing nothing. What would change their minds?

Back From the Brink

Near-death experiences have been the domain of pseudoscience. But clinicians ignore them at their peril.

To Build a Better Vaccine

Waiting a decade or more for new vaccines may be a thing of the past, thanks to the revolution of rational vaccine design.

What Blockchain Could Do

Beneath the hype is a technology that could solve many logistical problems that plague medicine.

Something in Your Voice

New speech analysis technologies can help diagnose mental illness. But they also raise troubling questions.

Energy Crisis

Those who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome often face years of doubt from their medical providers. But now the physical hallmarks of the disease are coming into focus.

Rethinking the Perfect Organ

The critical shortage of organs isn’t going away. Revising the current guidelines about who should be a donor—and who should be a recipient—might save lives.

The Solid Tumor Barrier

New T cell therapies succeed with a narrow band of cancers. Can they be made to work for the rest of them, too?

Living Memory

How does the brain remember? As memory disorders become more common, the research race is on to determine how the process works, what can go wrong and how worn memories can be made whole again.

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Dispatches

God Panels, Then and Now

Who most deserves a medical device? A brief history of an impossible conversation.

The Secret Is Inside You

Can microbial communities help treat depression?

Bullies on Notice

Toxic work environments are bad for science. Morteza Mahmoudi is on a crusade to clean them up.

The Autopsy Ascendant

The traditional post-mortem undergoes a reinvention.

Turning Patient

A bed-bound nurse reflects on falling sick in the time of COVID-19.

Heroes for a Day

Infectious disease doctors are the linchpin of the pandemic response. But once the crisis passes, will we be wise enough to train more?

Where the Rubber Meets the Road, Ethically

The pressure is on to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. The human risks in that process are already front and center.

Podcast: The Good Life Under Lockdown?

Psychiatrist Robert Waldinger’s TED talk about what makes a good life has been viewed more than 32 million times. Can those rules be applied to quarantining as well?

How Should We Talk About COVID-19?

When bad information spreads online, vulnerable groups often suffer the most. So how can you craft a public health message that people will hear?

Why Do Young, Healthy People Die from COVID-19?

They represent a small minority of victims. But their illness could hold valuable lessons about how COVID-19 works—and how to stop it.

How to Build a Pop-Up Hospital

Conventional hospitals are running out of room. Convention centers, parking garages—what does it take to press them into service?

In the Shadow of the Pandemic, a Mental Health Crisis

The dangers of COVID-19 go beyond the physical risks, especially for those with psychiatric health needs.

No COVID-19 Tests? Let Us Make One

With tests in short supply, some hospitals are creating homegrown versions in their own labs. The pandemic may prove how essential such efforts are.

When Will We Get a COVID-19 Vaccine?

The world’s leading labs want to create a novel vaccine in record time. A researcher from Boston’s Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard shares his view from the front lines.

God is My Co-Investigator

Religious fasts offer opportunities for reflection, penitence and good data about human dietary needs.

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From Mass General

Our Response to a Pandemic

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss how Massachusetts General Hospital is tackling COVID-19.

The Changing Landscape of Primary Care

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss a shortage of primary care physicians and how to address the problem.

A Safe and Controversial Place

Physician Mark Eisenberg discusses the furor over (and the desperate need for) safer injection sites.

Next-Generation Vaccines

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss the revolution of rational vaccine design.

A Revolution in Cancer Treatment

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss the promise of CAR T cell therapy for solid tumors.

Climate Change Meets an Aging Population

The most common victims of extreme weather events are older people. New research looks into how the health system fails them, and how it can be fixed.

Singular Exceptions

Should primary care physicians be trained to spot unusual, medically important cases?

Silent No More

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss the need to end workplace violence in health care.

An Extra Pair of (A)Is

Machine intelligence takes a big step into the clinic, with a technology that helps identify patients with an elevated risk of breast cancer.

Doctoring on a Screen

Telemedicine made its first broadcast 50 years ago in an airport clinic.

Ending the AIDS Epidemic

Since the early 1980s, AIDS has killed more than 35 million people worldwide. But researchers are determined to find better treatments, cures and preventions that many finally put an end to the epidemic.

For Some Clots, It Takes a Village

Treatment of pulmonary embolisms may benefit from a team approach. But that model faces obstacles inside and outside the hospital.

Shining a Light on Depression

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris highlight the need for new approaches to treating depression.

A (Small) Cause of Big Pain

Neurologist Anne Louise Oaklander investigates a cause of chronic pain that is treatable without opioids.

Investing in Our Future

Peter L. Slavin and Timothy G. Ferris discuss the importance of research funding.

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Charts & Data

How to Green a Hospital

Health care leaders look for ways to scale back an outsized carbon footprint.

The New Anatomy

Parts of the body are constantly being proposed or discovered. Where do they come from?

Anatomy of a Hashtag

Public health messaging online yields beautiful—but sometimes worrying—data.

The Village Without Memory

In France, a home for people with dementia is designed from the ground up.

To Choose Death

Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act crosses the 20-year mark.

In Passing

How does a hospital keep patient details from getting lost in the shuffle?

To Catch a Protein

The world of protein imaging undergoes a chilly revolution.

The Next Zika

Vaccines are most helpful before an epidemic hits. So which diseases should researchers prepare for next?

ResearchKit

A software platform from Apple is helping medical researchers collect health data from any iPhone user

White Coats

The standard garb of the physician comes with surprising risks and benefits.

Unsound the Alarm

Hundreds of alarms compete for a clinician's attention. Can less noise mean better care?

Babel in the ICU

Machines in an ICU can't speak to one another—but what if they could?

The Changes We've Seen

Proto looks at trends in health care during the last 10 years.

Born Too Soon

Despite steady declines over the past decade, the U.S. still has one of the highest preterm birthrates in the developed world.

An Outbreak Told in Genomes

Rapid genetic sequencing maps an Ebola outbreak in fine detail.

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