This time last year, Jay Bhattacharya’s main claim to fame was, in essence, a hot take on COVID. In 2020, Bhattacharya, then a health economist at Stanford University without specialized…

The surgeon general may be the nation’s doctor, but she’s not your doctor. At least that’s the view of Casey Means, the physician turned wellness influencer who is vying for…

The eating habits of American adults have, in recent years, begun to resemble those of hobbits. Maybe you, too, have scarfed down scrambled eggs at home in the morning, only…

The day after Thanksgiving, I got a voicemail. A woman identified herself as a doctor at the University of Louisville hospital: “I believe I may have one of your family…

Of all the ways that governments can try to help people, cash transfers can seem like one of the most straightforward. Their popularity has been growing: Over the past decade,…

Casey Means has, to say the least, modified her tone. When she testified today in front of the Senate’s health committee, the nominee for surgeon general didn’t, as she is…

Realizing that your brain is slowing down can be jarring. After the age of, say, 45, anyone might start forgetting names, misplacing items, or struggling to pay attention, and the…

Kids love to imitate their parents, and in Shay Mitchell’s home, that meant her daughters wanted to copy her face-mask routine. Mitchell, an actor best known for her role in…

Over coffee at a Starbucks just outside Austin, Texas, Del Bigtree told me he wants his teenage son to catch polio. Measles, too. He’s considered driving his unvaccinated family to…

Of every 1,000 people the measles virus infects, it may kill as few as one to three. In a way, this can seem merciful. But the mathematics of measles is…