medicine

Good News: Dick Transplants Now Possible

Aleksander Chan · 03/13/15 02:15PM

Rejoice, peen-having members of this Earth: Doctors from University of Stellenbosch in South Africa successfully completed the world's first purported penis transplant—the patient has made a full recovery and "is sexually active."

Please Put Prices on Health Care

Hamilton Nolan · 11/06/14 11:07AM

There are many things wrong with the bloated, expensive American health care system. I would like to complain about one small part of it: the prices. It's not just that the prices are high. It's that... where the hell are the prices?

The Deadliest-Ever Ebola Outbreak: How It Started, and What's Next

Andy Cush · 08/01/14 11:20AM

Over the last several months, the deadliest-ever outbreak of the Ebola virus has torn through West Africa, claiming hundreds of lives and leaving hundreds more infected. If you're just catching up with the news, here's some of what we know about the disease, its spread, and how it might be stopped.

Study: Tylenol Is Useless for Back Pain

Hamilton Nolan · 07/24/14 08:48AM

If you are a human who has successfully survived past the age of 30, chances are you've experienced lower back pain, a condition brought on by excessive sitting, standing, inactivity, or moving. A new study says: there is no relief.

When God Grabs You By the Balls

John Reed · 05/31/14 02:13PM

I'm not a doctor but I'm an expert. In the locker room, guys exchange a wealth of age-old wisdom. A couple of times, I reset broken noses. Usually my own, but once my friend Gabriel was in bed with my friend Josephine and accidentally kneed her, and I reset her broken nose. She's still complaining, but it would have worked if she'd kept the tape on.

Scientists Just Built a Better Vagina in a Laboratory

Adam Weinstein · 04/11/14 12:36PM

There's not much to add to the New Scientist's lede here: "Vaginas grown in a lab from the recipients' own cells have been successfully transferred to the body for the first time."

Tom Scocca · 01/23/14 03:33PM

A plastic-surgery clinic in Gangnam has been ordered to stop displaying some 2,000 bone fragments from reshaped jawlines, stacked in a tower. The Chosun Ilbo reports that the fine for improper medical waste disposal was 3 million won; each jawline procedure costs 3.5 million won.

Sanjay Gupta Is All For Weed Now

Hamilton Nolan · 08/08/13 09:02AM

Alert, medical professionals: television doctor and 2003 People magazine "Sexiest Man Alive" runner-up Sanjay Gupta now supports medical marijuana. Please update your science textbooks.

Americans Have No Idea Whether Their Supplements Will Kill Them

Hamilton Nolan · 06/18/13 10:56AM

Scientific studies show that the vast majority of Americans are not doctors. That does not, however, prevent Americans from medicating themselves with "alternative" medicines and supplements, as if they were doctors. Why are we Americans so dumb?

Tom Scocca · 05/20/13 02:07PM

Surgeons at the Fourth Military Medical University in Xi'an, China, say they transplanted a genetically modified piece of pig liver into a Tibetan macaque this month, according to the state-run China Daily. The gene-altered pig-monkey was reportedly in stable condition at the army-affiliated research facility.

Quacks of All Political Persuations Fight Fluoridation In Portland

Adrian Chen · 05/20/13 11:44AM

In 2013 one can have many legitimate beefs with the medical and scientific establishment, but fluoridated water, like immunization, is not one of them. Still, it appears increasingly likely that a Left-Right coalition of dedicated fear-mongers will defeat a measure in Portland this week to fluoridate its water supply and help keep kids' teeth from falling out.