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With every beat of your heart, blood carries oxygen from your lungs throughout your body. This life-sustaining process happens automatically, whether you’re awake or asleep. But for people with sickle cell disease, it often goes awry. People with this disease have an abnormal type of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying molecule in red blood cells. Normally, red blood cells are flexible and shaped…, One Gene, Many Symptoms, Sickle cell disease is caused by changes in a single gene. But everyone has two copies of the gene. You inherit one copy from each parent. More than two million people in the U.S. carry one abnormal copy, called sickle cell trait. They don’t usually have any symptoms. But if you inherit two copies, the result is sickle cell disease. About 100,000 people in the U.S. live with sickle cell disease.…, New Drug Options, The most common treatment for sickle cell disease is a drug called hydroxyurea. It coaxes the adult body to make fetal hemoglobin. This increases the number of functional red blood cells. Hydroxyurea doesn’t work for everyone. But three new treatments have been approved in the last few years. Some of the newer drugs prevent sickled cells from sticking to the blood vessels. Thein’s team is testing…, Fixing the Blood Cells, Currently, the only cure for sickle cell disease is a bone marrow transplant. Bone marrow is the spongy tissue containing the [qtip: stem cells|Immature cells that have the potential to develop into many different cell types in the body.] that give rise to blood cells. In a bone marrow transplant, the stem cells in the patient’s bone marrow that produce blood cells are first destroyed. Then, stem…

Your jaw works hard every day so you can laugh, talk, smile, and eat. When it’s working properly, you may not give it much thought. But if your jaw starts to hurt, it can take the joy out of simple, everyday things. The jaw joint is one of the most complex joints in the human body. For most people, it moves effortlessly up and down, side to side, and in and out, transitioning from one movement to…, Note, : The title of this article was changed after publication.

Exercise is important for your body and your brain at any age. A new study reveals how physical activity may slow the decline in learning and memory as you get older. Researchers looked at the brains of young and old mice. Some had access to a running wheel in their cage, while others did not. The team found changes in the part of the brain called the hippocampus. This area is important for…

Wearing a face covering is an important part of keeping you and others healthy right now. But they can also make talking to those around you more difficult. Face coverings can muffle sound. They can also hide important clues about the speaker’s message and emotions. This can make it hard to understand speech, especially for those with hearing loss. Millions of people in the U.S have hearing loss…

Learn how to better understand health research in the news. Find tips on reading a scientific paper and interpreting the findings. This website walks you through important questions to ask about the goals of the research, possible bias, and study design.

Have you ever wondered why science takes so long? Maybe you haven’t thought about it much. But waiting around to hear more about COVID-19 may have you frustrated with the process. Science can be slow and unpredictable. Each research advance builds on past discoveries, often in unexpected ways. It can take many years to build up enough basic knowledge to apply what scientists learn to improve…, How Basic Research Works, When scientists are interested in a topic, they first read previous studies to find out what’s known. This lets them figure out what questions still need to be asked. Using what they learn, scientists design new experiments to answer important unresolved questions. They collect and analyze data, and evaluate what the findings might mean. The type of experiment depends on the question and the…, Building Together, Science is a collective effort. Researchers often work together and communicate with each other regularly. They chat with other scientists about their work, both in their lab and beyond. They present their findings at national and international conferences. Networking with their peers lets them get feedback from other experts while doing their research. Once they’ve collected enough evidence to…, An Ever-Changing Process, Science is always a work in progress. It takes many studies to figure out the “most accurate” model—which doesn’t mean the “right” model. It’s a self-correcting process. Sometimes experiments can give different results when they’re repeated. Other times, when the results are combined with later studies, the current model no longer can explain all the data and needs to be updated. “Science is…

A hot cup of coffee or tea is a highlight of the morning for some people. It can make you feel awake and alert. Caffeine is the chemical that causes these sensations. But does caffeine have other effects on the brain? Caffeine is found naturally in tea and coffee. But it is added to energy drinks and many types of soda. It’s even put in some snack foods and medications. More than eight out of 10…

Myopia, or nearsightedness, usually starts during childhood and worsens over time. A new study found that a type of contact lens can slow its progression. People with myopia can see close objects clearly, but things farther away are blurry. Those with severe myopia have a greater risk of developing other eye problems later in life. Myopia is caused by the eye growing too long from front to back.…

It’s hard to avoid stress. Work, money, current events, and the hassles of everyday life are just a few of the things that can cause stress. Long-term, or chronic, stress is linked to several health conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and anxiety. It’s important to learn how to manage stress so it doesn’t overwhelm you. The first step is to recognize your…

Plus-size women are at higher risk for certain health problems during pregnancy. It’s important for all women to work with their health care provider to plan for a healthy pregnancy. Learn how to set pregnancy goals and plan steps to reach them.