On July 13, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved an over-the-counter birth control pill that can be sold without a prescription for the first time in the United States. The pill is sold under the brand name Opill and ...

Researchers at MIT have created a tiny, cucumber-inspired soft robot capable of scooting around otherwise hard-to-reach, three-dimensional environments using a single, weak magnetic field. As first detailed last month in an open access paper published with Advanced Materials, an inchworm-like ...

For a long time, people have been trying not to get pregnant. In 500-100 CE, European women tied weasel testicles around their legs during sex to prevent pregnancy. Ancient Egyptians stuck a honey and crocodile dung mix up their vaginas ...

On July 6, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully approved the first drug shown to slow down Alzheimer’s disease. Sold under the brand name Leqembi (generic name lecanemab), this is the first time that a drug meant to slow ...

This article was co-reported by The Markup and KFF Health News. Looking for an at-home HIV test on CVS’ website is not as private an experience as one might think. An investigation by The Markup and KFF Health News found trackers ...

We’re used to slapping Band-Aids or gauze on cuts and other gashes, but researchers are exploring higher-tech ideas, too. Micro-thin smart bandages show promise as a potential new  method of medical treatment for patients suffering from chronic wounds such as ...

This article originally appeared in KFF Health News. Federal regulators want most patients to see a health care provider in person before receiving prescriptions for potentially addictive medicines through telehealth—something that hasn’t been required in more than three years. During ...

A team of researchers has uncovered a new biological editing system that could potentially be even more precise than CRISPR gene editing. It’s based on a protein called Fanzor, and this new finding is the first programmable RNA-guided system discovered ...

If you don’t know what a pangolin is, then today is your lucky day. Primarily found in tropical regions of Africa and Asia, the tiny, adorable, sadly endangered creature is the only mammal known to be covered completely in overlapping ...

This article originally published on ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. After decades of intense debate and stalled legislation, the Food and ...