For the past year, the United States has gone without its doctor. Ever since Vivek Murthy resigned as surgeon general last January, the role has remained empty despite President Trump’s…

Some moments call for a little extra. A date night. Girls’ night. That big presentation. A wedding where you want to feel completely yourself. A little extra volume, a little…

Milk is mundane in most contexts, but you can’t help noticing when it is smeared across the upper lips of America’s government officials. An image of Donald Trump sporting a…

Many Americans enthusiastically partake in Dry January, but it is rarely pitched as fun. After the holiday stretch of office parties and family gatherings, Americans have come to use the…

The Save gas station on the west side of Gary, Indiana, wants customers to know that they can pay for their groceries with food stamps. When I pulled into the…

Before Adam Sharples became a molecular physiologist studying muscle memory, he played professional rugby. Over his years as an athlete, he noticed that he and his teammates seemed to return…

Antiviral drugs for influenza, the best known of which is Tamiflu, are—let’s be honest—not exactly miracle cures. They marginally shorten the course of illness, especially if taken within the first…

The flu situation in the United States right now is, in a word, bad. Infections have skyrocketed in recent weeks, filling hospitals nearly to capacity; viral levels are “high” or…

On a recent Tuesday morning, I was blessed with a miracle in a mini-mart. I had set out to find the protein bar I kept hearing about, only to find…

Every night before bedtime, my daughter tilts back her head so that a pair of metal plates inside her mouth can be cranked apart another quarter of a millimeter. We…