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Magnified red microbes float among a yellow background

A micro safari through household germs reveals that cleanliness isn’t always a good thing

Medicine

Take a look around — you might not be able to see them, but they are everywhere. We are surrounded by forests of bacteria and microbes. And it turns out, that might not be such a bad thing. But our obsession with cleanliness could be.

Colonies of lab-grown E. coli bacteria similar to a strain carrying a gene that makes it resistant to all known antibiotics. Many bacterial pathogens are developing drug resistance due to the widespread misuse of antibiotics.

Think antibiotic-resistant ‘super-bugs’ are only a distant threat? Think again.

Health
French President Francois Mitterrand raises his cap as he goes for a walk in the streets of Chateau-Chinon in 1995.

French politicians have a long history of keeping their serious illnesses secret

Global Politics
Baby powder

A jury has found what science still has not: A link between baby powder and cancer

Health
Squirrel monkey

A cure for ‘colorblindness’ may be in sight

Health
Frozen blood samples

Pre-natal exposure to DDT linked to increased likelihood of breast cancer

Health

Though the pesticide DDT was banned in the US in 1972, its effects in the human body may live on. New research has found the strongest link yet between exposure to DDT in the womb and the likelihood of breast cancer later in life.

Baby powder commercial

Women are suing Johnson & Johnson over talcum powder

Health

Talcum powder has been used for more than a century on babies and many people use it for daily hygiene. But a spate of recent lawsuits and some studies suggest using talc could lead to ovarian cancer in adult women. Still, the science is far from settled.

A man smokes a cigar while standing next to a window in Havana, January 20, 2005.

Americans could soon benefit from a lung cancer vaccine developed in Cuba

Health

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo visited Cuba last month to sign an accord that would allow Americans to test out a Cuban-developed lung cancer vaccine.

couple

This Iraqi couple fled ISIS but face another enemy in the US — diabetes

Health

Being new to the US can be challenging enough. Now add managing your diabetes in a new culture and language. A project in California is offering help.

Joseph Riedel in recovery

Finding humor wasn’t so easy for this screenwriter in recovery

Health

Finding the humor in his situation hasn’t been easy for for a screenwriter recovering from brain surgery, but it did give him ideas to use in a film called, “A Good Sense of Tumor.”