Discover how it works in bacterial cells and how it can be applied to other forms of life—including humans.

Our producer gets her own blood tested and investigates what exactly these “magic” molecules are, why public health professionals are eager to roll out antibody testing, and just what antibody tests can—and can’t—tell us.

A 73-year-old resident of Queens, New York fell ill with COVID-19 in February. It was far worse than his family expected.

Anyone entering or leaving a building or public space in Wuhan is required to scan special location-marking codes with their phone.

There are more viruses than stars in the universe, and luckily, most are harmless to us. But danger can come when we're exposed to a virus we’ve never encountered before.

Scientists are trying new, revolutionary techniques to make a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, but face challenges along the way.

Scientists are coming to understand fat as a dynamic organ—one whose size may have more to do with biological processes than personal choices. Explore the mysteries of fat and its role in hormone production, hunger, and even pregnancy.

Experts weigh in on the relationship between food and exercise—turns out it's much more complex than it seems.
Remembering sumo champion Byambajav Ulambayar, who died in February 2020.

Scientists are coming to understand fat as a dynamic organ—one whose size may have more to do with biological processes than personal choices. Explore the mysteries of fat and its role in hormone production, hunger, and even pregnancy.

A young man with lipodystrophy receives treatment after researchers find a hormone in mice that helps regulate appetite in humans.

Researchers discover how cancer masks itself from the immune system and figure out how patients’ immune systems can recognize cancer cells and attack them.

In 2015, doctors diagnosed George Keays with stage 4 lung cancer, which has low survival rates beyond one or two years. Can a vaccine in Cuba help him more than drugs available in the U.S.?

When the U.S. trade embargo left Cuba isolated from medical resources, Cuban scientists were forced to get creative. Now they’ve developed lung cancer vaccines that show so much promise, some Americans are defying the embargo and traveling to Cuba for treatment. In an unprecedented move, Cuban researchers are working with U.S. partners to make the medicines more widely available.

What goes on inside those test tubes to detect whether a person is positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19?

Here’s what you need to know about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes, called COVID-19.

UPDATE: Preliminary studies suggest the coronavirus spreads from people with no symptoms. A March 17 study shows the virus can remain viable in aerosols for 3 hours, on cardboard for up to 24 hours, and on plastic and stainless steel for 2 to 3 days.

A neurologist uses carefully-timed pulses of noise to boost the size of brain waves responsible for good-quality sleep—and potentially better memory.

To measure the brain’s ability to form completely new memories, researchers teach kids made-up words for novel objects.

From fruit flies to whales, virtually every animal sleeps. But why? Why do we need to spend nearly a third of our lives in such a defenseless state? Scientists are peering more deeply into the sleeping brain than ever before, discovering just how powerful sleep can be, playing a role in everything from memory retention and emotional regulation to removing waste from our brains.

It's tough to tell how a cat is feeling just by watching its facial expressions. Can science be used to detect more subtle facial changes that reveal cats' emotions?

Worshipped as a goddess, condemned as satanic, and spun into a stunning array of breeds, cats have long fascinated humans. But did we ever really domesticate them? And what can science tell us about our most mysterious companions?