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Nobody likes being sick with a virus. It can feel even worse if you get your loved ones sick, too. But you can keep your family healthier by learning ways to prevent viruses from spreading. Some viruses, like other germs, can live on surfaces. You become infected when you touch them and then touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. But many viruses can spread through the air. These are called airborne…, A Sea of Aerosols, Every time you talk, sneeze, sing, or cough, you breathe out more than just air. You also exhale lots of tiny fluid particles. These come in a wide range of sizes. The larger ones, called droplets, fall quickly to the ground. These typically travel less than 3 to 6 feet. But the smallest particles, called aerosols, can hang in the air for minutes or even hours. They are able to travel through the…, Spreading Indoors and Out, How much virus is floating around in the air depends on where you are. Indoor spaces tend to be poorly ventilated compared to the outdoors. Outdoors, aerosols can float off or blow away. In a building with poor ventilation, there’s nowhere for the aerosols to go. When aerosols collect in the air, you’re more likely to breathe them in and get infected. That’s why many outbreaks of COVID-19 were…, Preventing Infection, With all these viruses floating in the air, what are the best ways to stay healthy? “A lot of the lessons we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic are tools that we can apply every day,” Lakdawala says. Getting CDC-recommended vaccines can help your body fight off germs. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can also help keep you from getting ill. That includes a healthy diet and enough physical activity…, [qtip:ultraviolet light|A type of energy that comes from the sun and artificial light sources like sun lamps and tanning beds.]., Dr. Peggy Sue Lai, a lung doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital, is studying how to improve indoor air quality in schools. “We have detected multiple respiratory viruses in the air of classrooms,” she explains. If school buildings aren’t well-ventilated, these viruses can build up. But upgrading a building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to improve ventilation can…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects how a person behaves, communicates, interacts with others, and learns. It’s called a “spectrum disorder” because symptoms can vary widely. Early diagnosis can lead to early treatment and improved outcomes. But ASD can be hard to diagnose. Kids are often screened for ASD before age 3 at well-child medical visits. Screening is usually based on a caregiver…

A growing number of Americans are rolling out their mats and engaging in the ancient practice of yoga. Yoga has spiritual origins. But in recent years, it has become a popular way to improve physical health and mental well-being. Have you considered trying yoga? How can you know if it’s right for you? To help you find answers, NIH has created a new 40-page e-book called “Yoga for Health.” This…

There’s a lot of talk about artificial intelligence, or AI, these days. AI is everywhere—from virtual assistants to facial recognition software. The technology is even assisting doctors and scientists. So what exactly is AI? And how is it helping advance scientific research? “AI is basically trying to teach computers to ‘think’ in the same way as the human brain,” says Dr. Despina Kontos, an AI…, Mining Medical Images, One area that AI is already being used daily is medical imaging. Computers help doctors comb through CT and MRI scans for signs of problems like heart disease and cancer. “AI can look at images very closely, in a way that’s much more detailed than we can do with the human eye,” Kontos says. That means that the computer may be able to pick up on subtleties that a person might miss. In medicine,…, Connecting People With Care, Over the last year, advanced “chatbots,” like ChatGPT, have burst on the scene. These AI programs are designed to have realistic conversations with people. People are starting to use the technology to find health information. Many chatbots are a form of “generative AI.” This type of AI can create new content based on what it learns from analyzing existing data. Such chatbots use what’s called…, Looking Toward the Future, As AI moves into more areas of health care, many ethical issues will need to be addressed, explains Kontos. “These systems learn from human data, so they may learn our biases,” she says. For example, in the past, research studies have included far more men than women. This means that the resulting data may not be as accurate for guiding women’s health care. So, if this information is fed into AI…

Do you have a favorite food that makes your mouth water? The liquid that fills your mouth is called saliva. This remarkable fluid helps you digest food and stay healthy. Saliva, or spit, has many important roles. It helps to moisten food, which affects its flavor and makes it easier to swallow. It contains proteins that help to break down food and begin the digestion process. Saliva also includes…

Around 1 in 10 Americans live with type 2 diabetes. In this disease, levels of blood glucose, or blood sugar, stay too high for too long. Diabetes can lead to serious health issues. Weight loss is often recommended for those with excess weight and type 2 diabetes. Reducing calorie intake is a common weight-loss strategy. But many people find it hard to cut back on calories. An NIH-funded research…

NIH invites teens and young adults to enter a new art challenge. It’s called “ How Prevention Can Create Better Health for Everyone .” Prevention means taking steps to avoid getting sick or injured, instead of treating health problems after they happen. Prevention can include actions like eating healthy foods or getting a flu shot. It can also mean making changes to the environment, such as…

Eating healthy isn’t always easy. Expert-recommended diets often emphasize fresh, whole foods and home-cooked meals. But that can be expensive and time-consuming. Highly processed foods are often cheap and convenient. But they also tend to be high in calories, added sugar, saturated fat, and salt, and low in fiber. Scientists are starting to learn that highly processed foods can have certain…, What Are Ultra-Processed Foods?, Most foods that we eat are processed to some extent—they’re modified from how they exist in nature. Chopping, grinding, drying, cooking, and freezing are all forms of food processing. Some forms of processing are good for your health. For example, cooking meat and pasteurizing milk can help prevent foodborne diseases. But if your food is processed too much, it may be harmful to your health. Ultra…, Understanding Overeating, It’s difficult for scientists to study exactly how ultra-processed foods affect overeating. That requires carefully controlling people’s diets for weeks at a time. But NIH metabolism researcher Dr. Kevin Hall has done just that. In a recent study, he compared calorie intake and weight gain in participants who ate a highly processed diet with those who ate a minimally processed diet. Study…, Changing the Brain, One way that ultra-processed foods might lead to overeating is by altering the brain. DiFeliceantonio’s team is using MRI scans to see how ultra-processed foods affect the brain’s reward system. These are the parts of the brain that are activated by pleasure and drive us to seek it out. DiFeliceantonio is studying whether a diet high in ultra-processed foods affect this system, and if the changes…

Kids have a lot to learn in their first five years of life. They learn to walk, talk, and eventually to start reading. But while kids can pick up walking and talking naturally, they must be taught how to read. Children who struggle with the building blocks of reading may be at risk for developing dyslexia. Dyslexia is a reading disorder in which people find it hard to link speech sounds to…

An eating plan called the DASH diet can lead to heart-healthy changes, like lower blood pressure. The diet encourages eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and avoiding saturated fats. But despite its known benefits, many people have trouble sticking to this eating plan. A new study tested whether mindfulness training might help people follow the DASH diet. Mindfulness is a focus on the…