Halting the Bird Flu Outbreak in Cows May Require Thinking Beyond Milk
A new study paints a complex picture of the outbreak, suggesting that the virus could be spreading in multiple ways and that it is not always mild in cows.
A Disease That Makes Children Age Rapidly Gets Closer to a Cure
Progress in the quest to help progeria patients suggests that gene editing techniques may help treat other ultrarare conditions.
This Is Literally Your Brain on Drugs
A small new study shows reactions in the brain in people who were given psilocybin in a controlled setting.
Vaccines Significantly Reduce the Risk of Long Covid, Study Finds
In the first two years of the pandemic, the rate of long Covid was starkly lower among people who were vaccinated, researchers reported.
Anxiety, Depression and Other Disorders Can Look Like A.D.H.D.
Many other conditions have similar symptoms, experts say, so avoid the pull of self-diagnosis.
Biden and Georgia Are Waging a Fight Over Medicaid and the Future of Obamacare
A fierce battle with Georgia over a Medicaid experiment with stricter enrollment underscores the vast divide between parties over how to cover lower-income Americans.
Some Seniors Readily Step Back. Some Never Will.
Researchers are only beginning to understand why some people embrace retirement while others won’t even consider it.
Is Bird Flu Spreading Widely to Farm Workers? A Small Study Offers Some Reassurance
Officials found no evidence of silent infections in 35 Michigan dairy workers, but experts noted that much more data was necessary.
Listeria Outbreak Tied to Deli-Sliced Meat Kills at Least 2, CDC Says
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 28 people had been hospitalized with listeria infections across a dozen states.
A Daily Pill to Prevent S.T.I.s? It May Work, Scientists Say.
A common antibiotic, doxycycline, greatly reduced cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia when taken every day, a study found.
Peter Buxtun, Who Exposed Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Dies at 86
A Public Health Service employee, he turned whistle-blower after learning of decades-long research involving hundreds of poor, infected Black men who were left untreated.
Ozempic and Weight Loss Drugs: Which Should You Choose?
As patients consider drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound and Mounjaro to treat obesity, experts say the choices are not so simple.
Executives Depart Cassava, Maker of Disputed Alzheimer’s Drug
The chief executive and a lead scientist stepped down weeks after a federal grand jury filed fraud charges against a research collaborator.
Moving in Childhood Contributes to Depression, Study Finds
A study of more than a million Danes found that frequent moves in childhood had a bigger effect than poverty on adult mental health risk.
Long Covid and Vaccination: What You Need to Know
A new study adds to evidence that the shots can reduce the chances of developing one of the most dreaded consequences of Covid.
What Parents Should Know About Cord Blood Banking
Millions of parents have paid to bank blood from their infants’ umbilical cords. But storage companies have misled them about the cells’ promise.
Crisis Hotline Has Answered 10 Million Calls, Texts and Chats
Mental health experts have said that the 988 hotline for mental health emergencies is still a work in progress, in need of more funding, coordination and awareness.
Why Does a Routine Test of Newborns Reward ‘Pink’ Skin?
The Apgar test grades infants in five areas, including skin tone. Babies of color score lower, and may be subjected to unnecessary treatment.
Promised Cures, Tainted Cells: How Cord Blood Banks Mislead Parents
Families pay thousands of dollars to store their children’s stem cells with the hope of a healthier future. But the cells are rarely useful, and sometimes contaminated.
What’s Greenest and Cleanest When Nature Calls?
Conventional toilet paper has a big environmental impact. We’ve got the lowdown on alternatives, from bamboo tissue to bidets.
Do You Have Concerns About Embryo Storage? We Want to Hear From You.
We’re reporting on the challenges that fertility clinics face as they store a growing number of frozen embryos.
No Contact America
Encouraged on social media, many Americans are estranging themselves from their families as a therapeutic step.
Ruth Westheimer, the Sex Therapist Known as Dr. Ruth, Dies at 96
Frank and funny, the taboo-breaking psychologist said things on television and radio that would have been shocking coming from almost anyone else.
Methodology for Analysis of Nursing Home Staffing
More than a million public records were used to assess whether nursing homes were meeting state staffing minimums.
How to Find a Good, Well-Staffed Nursing Home
Here are the telltale signs to look for in nursing homes to avoid, and resources that can point to better places.
Why Nursing Home Residents Suffer Despite Tough Staffing Laws
The Biden administration set stringent new federal staffing rules. But for years, nursing homes have failed to meet the toughest standards set by states.
Second Patient to Receive Pig Kidney Transplant Has Died
Lisa Pisano, 54, lived with the organ for 47 days. She was the first patient to receive both a heart pump and an organ transplant, doctors said.
Doctors Use A.I. Chatbots to Help Fight Insurance Denials
As health plans increasingly rely on technology to deny treatment, physicians are fighting back with chatbots that synthesize research and make the case.
Maxine Singer, Guiding Force at the Dawn of Biotechnology, Dies at 93
A leading biochemist, she helped shape guidelines in the ’70s on genetic-engineering while calming public fears of a spread of deadly lab-made microbes.
Help The Times Report on Optum-Controlled Doctor’s Offices
The Times wants to hear from patients and providers about medical practices affiliated with Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. Share your experience below.
Sacklers Threatened with Lawsuits from States and Creditors for Purdue Pharma
Legal maneuverings followed a Supreme Court ruling last month that denied the Sackler family immunity from liability over its role in the opioid crisis.
Why Was the Young Woman Vomiting Everything She Ate or Drank?
The flight to Cleveland was quick. Her father picked her up at the airport and drove directly to the Cleveland Clinic Children’s hospital. Her regular doctor, Ellen Rome, the head of the Center for Adolescent Medicine there, wasn’t in the…
Parkinson’s Expert Visited the White House Eight Times in Eight Months
An expert on Parkinson’s disease from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center visited the White House eight times in eight months from last summer through this spring, including at least once for a meeting with President Biden’s physician, according to…
The Killer Stalking Sri Lanka’s Men
Climate change and contaminated water have combined to create an epidemic of kidney disease.
Turning 26 and Struggling to Find Health Insurance? Tell Us About It.
A hard-won provision of the Affordable Care Act allows young adults to stay on their family’s insurance until age 26. But after that, those without employer-based insurance face an array of complicated choices, including whether to shop on the insurance…
For An Aquatic Veterinarian, It’s Never ‘Just A Fish’
This article is part of our Pets special section on scientists’ growing interest in our animal companions. Many students begin veterinary school with career aspirations that date back to childhood, when they fell in love with the idea of ministering…
Your Brain Holds Secrets. Scientists Want to Find Them.
About a month ago, Judith Hansen popped awake in the predawn hours, thinking about her father’s brain. Her father, Morrie Markoff, was an unusual man. At 110, he was thought to be the oldest in the United States. His brain…
Supreme Court Imperils an Array of Federal Rules
The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to limit the broad regulatory authority of federal agencies could lead to the elimination or weakening of thousands of rules on the environment, health care, worker protection, food and drug safety, telecommunications, the financial…
Malaria Vaccine Rollout to Africa Is a Cautionary Tale
It didn’t become part of vaccination programs in Africa until 2024. What if it had come faster? What if the shots had arrived9 years ago? 143,000. That’s how many children’s deaths could have been averted. By Stephanie Nolen Stephanie Nolen…
Biden Administration Opposes Surgery for Transgender Minors
The Biden administration said this week that it opposed gender-affirming surgery for minors, the most explicit statement to date on the subject from a president who has been a staunch supporter of transgender rights. The White House announcement was sent…
How Dr. Alex Arroyo Spends His Sundays (in Costume)
“Hey, buddy, how are you doing?” a man wearing a Boba Fett costume said as he leaned over the bed of a young boy in a hospital gown. It was a Sunday afternoon in the emergency room at Maimonides Medical…
V. Craig Jordan, Who Discovered a Key Breast Cancer Drug, Dies at 76
V. Craig Jordan, a pharmacologist whose discovery that a failed contraceptive, tamoxifen, could block the growth of breast cancer cells opened up a whole new class of drugs and helped save the lives of millions of women, died on June…
Videos Show Ants Amputating Nest Mates’ Legs to Save Their Lives
The life of a Florida carpenter ant can be brutal. These half-inch ants are territorial and have violent bouts with ants from rival colonies in the Southeast. Combat can leave the ants with leg injuries. But as scientists recently discovered,…
FDA Approves Donanemab, Eli Lilly’s New Drug for Early Alzheimer’s
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a new drug for Alzheimer’s disease, the latest in a novel class of treatments that has been greeted with hope, disappointment and skepticism. The drug, donanemab, to be sold under the brand…
Why the Egg Freezing Industry Is Booming
Spring Fertility, a clinic in Midtown Manhattan, looks like the place where the main characters on “Broad City” would have wound up if the millennial sitcom had done an episode about egg freezing. The waiting room has books by America’s…
How Science Went to the Dogs (and Cats)
These early studies “highlighted both the potential that we could learn from dogs, but also that we were going to need bigger sample sizes to do it really well,” said Elinor Karlsson, a geneticist at UMass Chan Medical School and…
Ann Lurie, Nurse Who Became a Prominent Philanthropist, Dies at 79
Ann Lurie, a self-described hippie who went on to become one of Chicago’s most celebrated philanthropists, in one instance giving more than $100 million to a hospital where she had once worked as a pediatric nurse, died on Monday. She…
Mildred Thornton Stahlman, Pioneer in Neonatal Care, Dies at 101
Dr. Mildred Thornton Stahlman, a Vanderbilt University pediatrician whose research on fatal lung disease in newborns led to lifesaving treatments and to the creation, in 1961, of one of the first neonatal intensive care units, died on Saturday at her…
Racing to Retake a Beloved Trip, Before Dementia Takes Everything
When I was growing up, my dad, who has left the country only a few times, told me about the trip to Europe he took with his parents when he was 14, in 1966. He told me how much Nonie…
Your Hologram Doctor Will See You Now
A patient walks into a hospital room, sits down and starts talking to a doctor. Only in this case, the doctor is a hologram. It might sound like science fiction, but it is the reality for some patients at Crescent…
How Does Bird Flu Spread in Cows? Experiment Yields Some ‘Good News.’
Ever since scientists discovered influenza infecting American cows earlier this year, they have been puzzling over how it spreads from one animal to another. An experiment carried out in Kansas and Germany has shed some light on the mystery. Scientists…
Embattled Alzheimer’s Researcher Is Charged With Fraud
A scientist whose research has been at the center of controversy over an Alzheimer’s drug candidate has been charged with fraud. A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Hoau-Yan Wang, a professor at the City College of New York, on…
Supreme Court’s Abortion Rulings May Set the Stage for More Restrictions
Superficially, abortion rights had a good run at the Supreme Court this term. Two weeks ago, the justices unanimously let an abortion pill remain widely available. On Thursday, the court dismissed a case about Idaho’s strict abortion ban, which had…
New Covid Shots Recommended for Americans 6 Months and Older This Fall
All Americans ages 6 months and older should receive one of the new Covid-19 vaccines when they become available this fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. The recommendation comes as the nation faces a summer…
The Etiquette of Remembering Your Friend’s Pet’s Name
Kiyomi Lowe regularly hears people mispronounce her name or sometimes forget it altogether. “I get Naomi, Kaiomi, sometimes Kimmy,” she said. It doesn’t bother her: “I’ll respond to anything.” She is less forgiving when friends and acquaintances forget the name…
Federal Officials Revise Recommendations for R.S.V. Vaccine
In an unusual move, federal health officials revised their recommendations for who should receive the vaccine against the respiratory syncytial virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last year that adults age 60 or older could receive a…
A Feline Scientist Explains Why Your Cat Might Actually Like You
This article is part of our Pets special section on scientists’ growing interest in our animal companions. Over the last two decades, a flurry of scientific studies have demonstrated, over and over again, that dogs are social savants, highly attuned…
Some States Say They Can’t Afford Ozempic and Other Weight Loss Drugs
Joanna Bailey, a family physician and obesity specialist, doesn’t want to tell her patients that they can’t take Wegovy, but she has gotten used to it. Around a quarter of the people she sees in her small clinic in Wyoming…
Surgeon General Declares Gun Violence a Public Health Crisis
The U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, on Tuesday declared gun violence in America a public health crisis, recommending an array of preventive measures that he compared to past campaigns against smoking and traffic safety. The step follows years of…
At Animal Hospitals, Social Workers Offer Care for the Humans
Amy Conroy sat alone in a veterinary exam room, hands clutching a water bottle, eyes blinking back tears. Her 16-year-old cat, Leisel, had been having trouble breathing. Now, she was waiting for an update. The door opened, and Laurie Maxwell…
Is Fish Oil Helpful or Harmful for the Heart?
Unlike most other supplements, fish oil has been rigorously studied, said Dr. JoAnn Manson, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. But the results of those studies have been mixed, leaving researchers and doctors still debating whether fish oil…
How PBMs Are Driving Up Prescription Drug Costs
When P.B.M.s overcharge, it can increase costs for patients, not just employers and government programs like Medicare. The country’s most popular Medicare drug plan, SilverScript Choice, covered nearly 3 million Medicare beneficiaries last year. Caremark is its P.B.M., and it…
How Pet Care Became a Big Business
Heather Massey brought Ladybird to the veterinarian when the 9-year-old mutt began having seizures. A scan from an M.R.I. machine revealed bad news: brain cancer. With the prognosis grim, Ms. Massey decided against further treatment at the animal hospital near…
Gilead Shot Provides Total Protection From HIV in Trial of Young African Women
It can take generic makers years to get ready to produce a drug, and they need to have a sense of the potential market in order to commit to investing in production. So, in the meantime, Gilead will aim to…
Are We Loving Our Pets to Death?
Pets are more popular than ever. Roughly two-thirds of American homes have at least one pet, up from 56 percent in 1988, according to the American Pet Products Association, and Americans spent $136.8 billion on their pets in 2022, up…
What to Do if You’re Overpaying for Prescriptions
If you’ve ever had trouble getting a prescription drug, chances are you’ve run into a pharmacy benefit manager. These companies, known as P.B.M.s, play a crucial but often hidden role in deciding which drugs you can get and how much…
Our Reporter on How Pharmacy Benefit Managers Work
Pharmacy benefit managers are driving up drug costs for millions of people, employers and the government. New York Times pharmaceutical reporter, Rebecca Robbins, explains how.
A Bird-Flu Pandemic in People? Here’s What It Might Look Like.
The bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle has so far spilled over to just three farmworkers in the United States, as far as public health authorities know. All of them have had mostly mild symptoms. But that does not guarantee…
Chiropractor Videos Take Off on TikTok and YouTube
Snap. Crack. Pop. These sounds, once used to sell a popular breakfast cereal, are now enticing people to visit the doctor thanks to a wave of chiropractic videos sweeping social media. The most popular videos follow a familiar template: A…
How Heat Affects the Brain
In July 2016, a heat wave hit Boston, with daytime temperatures averaging 92 degrees for five days in a row. Some local university students who were staying in town for the summer got lucky and were living in dorms with…
Researchers Say Social Media Warning Is Too Broad
When the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, announced on Monday that he was planning to push for a mental health warning label on social media platforms, he was met with cheers from many parents and teachers, who described a…
Is That Drink Worth It to You?
Drinking increased during the pandemic, which may be why news of any kind about alcohol seems to have found a receptive audience in recent years. In 2022, an episode of the podcast “Huberman Lab” that was devoted to elaborating alcohol’s…
Pregnant, Addicted and Fighting the Pull of Drugs
Kim Short waited in the doctor’s exam room on an icy day in February, exhausted from the first trimester of pregnancy and trembling in withdrawal from methamphetamine, alcohol, Xanax and Klonopin. She stared at the floor, her black hair curtaining…
Medical Experts Alarmed by Out-of-Hospital Cesareans in Florida
A new law in Florida allowing doctors to perform cesarean sections in outpatient birthing centers has raised serious safety concerns among medical experts, who say the procedures carry a small but real risk of life-threatening complications and should not be…
Kate Middleton Gives Update on Cancer and Plans to Attend Trooping Colour
Catherine, the Princess of Wales, said on Friday that she planned to take part in a parade on Saturday marking the birthday of King Charles III, a tentative return to the public stage after confirming in March that she was…
What ‘Inside Out 2’ Teaches Us About Anxiety
At the end of “Inside Out,” the 2015 Pixar movie about the emotional life of a girl named Riley, a new button appears on the console used to control Riley’s mood. It’s emblazoned with one word: Puberty. Joy, one of…
Guns Often Stored Unsafely in U.S. Homes, C.D.C. Survey Suggests
Many firearm owners in the United States do not securely store their guns, even when the weapon is kept loaded and there are children in the home, according to a report released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control…
For an Older Homeless Population, a New Type of Care
Five years on the Phoenix streets battered Vance Blair’s body. His vision dimmed, his speech slowed, and his hands began to twitch. A bulging pelvis revealed the need for hernia surgery, and the vacant lot where he slept was no…
Akira Endo, Scholar of Statins That Reduce Heart Disease, Dies at 90
Akira Endo, a Japanese biochemist whose research on fungi helped to lay the groundwork for widely prescribed drugs that lower a type of cholesterol that contributes to heart disease, died on June 5. He was 90. Chiba Kazuhiro, the president…
Four Astronauts Spent 3 Days in Space. Here’s What It Did to Their Bodies and Minds.
Space changes you, even during short trips off the planet. Four people who spent three days off Earth in September 2021 experienced physical and mental changes that included modest declines in cognitive tests, stressed immune systems and genetic changes within…
Biden Proposes Dropping Medical Debt From Credit Reports
The Biden administration on Tuesday proposed removing medical debt from the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans, making it easier for them to qualify for car, home and small-business loans. The proposed rule, which will go through a…
Foraging on Public Lands Is Becoming More LImited
Beneath a row of fir trees River Shannon Aloia walks along a remote dirt road on national forest land, scanning the ground for morels. “Find it,” she commands her dog, Jasper. The search pays off for Ms. Aloia, an avid…
Montana’s Suicide Rate Is Highest in the U.S., With Most Involving Guns
On a typical day, Ali Mullen races from her job at the county health department in Helena, Mont., to pick up dinner for her three children, heads home to feed them and then goes back out for a violin lesson…
Law Enforcement Unit Formed to Crack Down on Illegal E-Cigarettes
A multi-agency coalition of law enforcement agents will begin tackling the unruly market of illegal e-cigarettes, under pressure from antismoking groups, lawmakers and the tobacco industry urging federal authorities to stop the flood of vaping devices favored by adolescents. The…
Personal Conflicts, Even Violence, Are Not Uncommon in Long-Term Care
At an assisted living facility in New York State, a small crowd had gathered at the dining room entrance at lunchtime, waiting for the doors to open. As a researcher observed, one woman, growing tired and frustrated, asked the man…
New Report Underscores the Seriousness of Long Covid
One of the nation’s premier medical advisory organizations has weighed in on long Covid with a 265-page report that recognizes the seriousness and persistence of the condition for millions of Americans. More than four years since the start of the…
Cancer Researchers Begin Large Long-Term Study of Black Women
The American Cancer Society has begun an ambitious, far-reaching study focusing on a population that has long been overlooked, despite high rates of cancer and cancer-related deaths: Black women. The initiative, called VOICES of Black Women, is believed to be…
Hunter Biden’s Addiction Upended His Family. Has Your Family Had Similar Woes?
Hunter Biden, the president’s son, is being tried in federal court for falsely claiming on a gun purchase application that he did not use illicit drugs. Testimony from his ex-wife and former girlfriends describe his drug-fueled temper; his search for…
New Covid Vaccine Endorsed for Fall
A committee of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted on Wednesday to update the formula for the Covid vaccine ahead of an anticipated fall immunization campaign, now an annual step to try to offer better protection against versions…
What Is MDMA Therapy for PTSD? And What Are Its Risks?
The Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to approve the use of MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. But the agency’s independent advisory panel of experts reviewed studies on June 4, and overwhelmingly decided…
The Bird Flu Virus Adapted to Sea Mammals. It May Not Be Done Yet.
Elephant seals in South America died in massive numbers because the bird flu virus acquired mutations that allowed it to spread among mammals, according to a new study. The research offers the first genetic and epidemiological evidence of bird flu…
FDA Panel Rejects Use of MDMA for Treatment of PTSD
An independent advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration rejected the use of MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder on Tuesday, highlighting the unparalleled regulatory challenges of a novel therapy using the drug commonly known as Ecstasy. Before the…
Transplanted Pig Kidney Is Removed From Patient
Surgeons removed the kidney of a genetically engineered pig from a critically ill patient last week after the organ was damaged by inadequate blood flow related to a heart pump that the woman had also received, according to officials at…
Art and the Power to Heal
Using her arms as a makeshift clapboard, a Sudanese woman in a black hijab and black-and-white caftan clapped her hands together, signaling the beginning of the rehearsal. The other amateur Thespians, wearing comic stick-on mustaches, moved to their marks, improvising…
Fauci Says the Idea That He Covered Up a Lab Leak Is ‘Preposterous’
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the former government scientist both celebrated and despised for his work on Covid, on Monday forcefully denied Republican allegations that he sought to cover up the possibility that the pandemic originated in a laboratory, calling the…
Senators See Possible Conflicts of Interest in Health Care Pricing Tools
The chairmen of two Senate committees overseeing health policy, concerned about companies “padding their own profits” at the expense of patients, are looking into the practices of a data analytics firm that works with big insurers to cut payments to…
Health Officials Tried to Evade Public Records Laws, Lawmakers Say
House Republicans on Tuesday accused officials at the National Institutes of Health of orchestrating “a conspiracy at the highest levels” of the agency to hide public records related to the origins of the Covid pandemic. And the lawmakers promised to…
What Is the Gray Rock Method?
Take a moment to imagine a small gray rock sitting in the palm of your hand. It’s silent, smooth and otherwise unremarkable. Are you bored yet? If so, that’s kind of the point. Most people will eventually lose interest in…
FDA Reviews MDMA Therapy for PTSD, Citing Health Risks and Study Flaws
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday raised concerns about the health effects of MDMA as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, citing flaws in a company’s studies that could pose major obstacles to approval of a treatment anticipated to…
Alzheimer’s Takes a Financial Toll Long Before Diagnosis, Study Finds
Long before people develop dementia, they often begin falling behind on mortgage payments, credit card bills and other financial obligations, new research shows. A team of economists and medical experts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Georgetown…
Bird Flu Has Infected a Third U.S. Farmworker
A third farmworker in the United States has been found to be infected with bird flu, heightening concerns about an outbreak among dairy cattle first identified in March. The worker is the first in this outbreak to have respiratory symptoms,…
PTSD Has Surged Among College Students
Post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses among college students more than doubled between 2017 and 2022, climbing most sharply as the coronavirus pandemic shut down campuses and upended young adults’ lives, according to new research published on Thursday. The prevalence of PTSD…
Sue Johnson, Psychologist Who Took a Scientific View of Love, Dies at 76
Sue Johnson, a British-born Canadian clinical psychologist and best-selling author who developed a novel method of couples therapy based on emotional attachment, challenging what had been the dominant behavioral approach — the idea that behaviors are learned and thus can…
The Textbooks Were Wrong About How Your Tongue Works
Think for a minute about the little bumps on your tongue. You probably saw a diagram of those taste bud arrangements once in a biology textbook — sweet sensors at the tip, salty on either side, sour behind them, bitter…
Ancient Skull With Brain Cancer Preserves Clues to Egyptian Medicine
Fluctuating disease rates, innovative treatments and talk of “moonshots” in the White House may make cancer seem like a modern scourge. But a new discovery highlights how humans dealt with the illness and hunted for cures as far back as…
Louisiana Lawmakers Vote to Make Abortion Pills Controlled Substances
Louisiana lawmakers passed legislation on Thursday to make the state the first in the nation to designate abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances. Possession of the drugs without a prescription would be a crime punishable with jail time and thousands…
Cannabis Tops Alcohol as Americans’ Daily Drug of Choice
For the first time on record, cannabis has outpaced alcohol as the daily drug of choice for Americans. In 2022 there were 17.7 million people who reported using cannabis either every day or nearly every day, compared with 14.7 million…
Inside the Factory Supplying Half of Africa’s Syringes
On the stunning Kenyan coast, about halfway between 15th-century ruins and the vibrant city of Mombasa, a small factory is helping to achieve one of Africa’s biggest health care goals: self-reliance. With fewer than 700 employees, Revital Healthcare makes 300…
Milk Containing Bird-Flu Virus Can Sicken Mice, Study Finds
Unpasteurized milk contaminated with H5N1, the bird-flu virus that has turned up in dairy herds in nine states, has been found to rapidly make mice sick, affecting multiple organs, according to a study published on Friday. The findings are not…
An Editor Whose Business Is Fitness
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. Molly Mirhashem is used to running around in circles — literally. Six days a week, Ms. Mirhashem runs near her…
Younger Adults Are Missing Early Warning Signs of Colon Cancer
The Latest Colorectal cancer rates are rapidly rising among adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s, and the most common warning sign for the disease is passing blood in the stool, according to a new scientific review. Rectal bleeding is…
When ‘Prior Authorization’ Becomes a Medical Roadblock
Slowly but steadily, Marlene Nathanson was recovering. She had suffered a stroke in November 2022 at her home in Minneapolis and spent a week in a hospital; afterward, when she arrived at Episcopal Homes in St. Paul for rehabilitation, she…
Beef Tissue from Sick Cow Tests Positive for Bird Flu Virus
Beef tissue from a sick dairy cow has tested positive for the bird flu virus, federal officials said on Friday. The cow had been condemned to be culled because it was sick, and the meat did not enter the food…
Countries Fail to Agree on Treaty to Prepare the World for the Next Pandemic
Countries around the globe have failed to reach consensus on the terms of a treaty that would unify the world in a strategy against the inevitable next pandemic, trumping the nationalist ethos that emerged during Covid-19. The deliberations, which were…
FDA Panel Endorses Safety of Guardant Blood Test for Colon Cancer
A committee of experts that advises the Food and Drug Administration voted by large majorities on Thursday that a new blood test to screen people for colon and rectal cancers was safe and effective, and that its benefits outweighed its…
Ascension Cyberattack Persists, Causing Patient Care Delays
In more than a dozen states, doctors and nurses have resorted to paper and handwritten treatment orders to chart patient illnesses and track them, unable to access the detailed medical histories that have long been available only through computerized records….
A Second Dairy Worker Has Contracted Bird Flu, C.D.C. Reports
A farmworker in Michigan has been diagnosed with bird flu, state officials announced on Wednesday, making it the second human case associated with the outbreak in cows. Officials said that the individual became infected with the virus, called H5N1, after…
Setback Deals Blow to Neuralink’s First Brain Implant Patient, but He Stays Upbeat
Just four months ago, Noland Arbaugh had a circle of bone removed from his skull and hair-thin sensor tentacles slipped into his brain. A computer about the size of a small stack of quarters was placed on top and the…
Dr. Paul Parkman, Who Helped to Eliminate Rubella, Dies at 91
Dr. Paul D. Parkman, whose research was instrumental in identifying the virus that causes rubella and developing a vaccine that has prevented an epidemic of the disease in the United States for more than 50 years, died on May 7…
Why Adult ADHD Is Hard to Diagnose
Just before Katie Marsh dropped out of college, she began to worry that she might have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “Boredom was like a burning sensation inside of me,” said Ms. Marsh, who is now 30 and lives in Portland,…
The Disease Detectives Trying to Keep the World Safe From Bird Flu
Dr. Luch berated herself for not having thought to test the boy a day earlier, when she might have saved him if she had treated him for influenza. But the alarm she raised and the urgent activity that followed was…
Legalized Weed is Landing More Seniors in the E.R.
The Study The study looked at 2,322 emergency room visits for cannabis poisoning among people 65 and older in Ontario. The visits spanned 2015 through 2022, allowing researchers to see what happened before and after October 2018, when Canada legalized…
Emma Seppälä Has Thoughts on How to Avoid Kneejerk Decisions
There’s quite a good body of research now on the neuroscience of meditation, showing that it improves self-awareness, emotion regulation, self-control and many other things. Most people, if they’re honest with themselves, reach for some kind of coping habit when…
Overdose Deaths Dropped in U.S. in 2023 for First Time in Five Years
Overdose deaths in the United States declined slightly last year, the first decrease in five years, according to preliminary federal data released Wednesday. The rare good news in the decades-old addiction crisis was attributable mostly to a drop in deaths…
The Itsy Bitsy Spider Inspired a Microphone
Engineers and scientists have an enduring fascination with spider silk. Similar to typical worm silk that makes for comfy bedsheets, but much tougher, the material has inspired the invention of lighter and more breathable body armor and materials that could…
Scientists Calculated the Energy Needed to Carry a Baby. Shocker: It’s a Lot.
It takes a lot of energy to grow a baby — just ask anyone who has been pregnant. But scientists are only now discovering just how much. In a study published on Thursday in the journal Science, Australian researchers estimated…
Study Suggests Waiting Longer Before Withdrawing Life Support
When a patient with a severe traumatic brain injury is comatose, in intensive care, unresponsive and hooked up to a ventilator, but not brain-dead, when is the time to withdraw life support? A small study on the fates of people…
How to Talk About Sex With Your Partner
As a reporter who covers sex and intimacy, I spend a lot of time listening to experts extol the virtues of open, honest communication. To have good sex — and to keep having good sex over time — couples must…
FDA Approves Amgen Drug for Persistently Deadly Form of Lung Cancer
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved an innovative new treatment for patients with a form of lung cancer. It is to be used only by patients who have exhausted all other options to treat small cell lung cancer,…
C.D.C. Warns of a Resurgence of Mpox
With Pride events scheduled worldwide over the coming weeks, U.S. officials are bracing for a return of mpox, the infectious disease formerly called monkeypox that struck tens of thousands of gay and bisexual men worldwide in 2022. A combination of…
U.S. Suspends Funding for Group at Center of Covid Origins Fight
The Biden administration, under acute pressure from House lawmakers, moved on Wednesday to ban funding for a prominent virus-hunting nonprofit group whose work with Chinese scientists had put it at the heart of theories that Covid leaked from a lab….
Did You Have Syphilis When You Were Pregnant? We Want to Hear From You.
Sexually transmitted diseases are resurging across the United States. More than 3,700 cases of congenital syphilis were reported in 2022, roughly 11 times the number recorded a decade ago. Syphilis during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage and stillbirth, and infants…
Google Unveils AI for Predicting Behavior of Human Molecules
Artificial intelligence is giving machines the power to generate videos, write computer code and even carry on a conversation. It is also accelerating efforts to understand the human body and fight disease. On Wednesday, Google DeepMind, the tech giant’s central…
‘Failure to Thrive,’ or a Failure to Look?
Geriatrics is a field of sleuthing. To solve medical enigmas, doctors must become detectives, teasing out the effects of overlapping causes that include chronic conditions, acute injuries, social factors and the normal process of aging. It is a challenge that…
Hilary Cass Says U.S. Doctors Are ‘Out of Date’ on Youth Gender Medicine
After 30 years as one of England’s top pediatricians, Dr. Hilary Cass was hoping to begin her retirement by learning to play the saxophone. Instead, she took on a project that would throw her into an international fire: reviewing England’s…
Family Members at One Another’s Throats? Call In the Mediator.
The four adult children were in agreement. Their father, William Curry, a retired electrical engineer and business executive, was sinking deeper into dementia. They had found a memory care facility about a mile from their parents’ house in Chelmsford, Mass.,…
Can Parrots Converse? Polly Says That’s the Wrong Question.
Half a century ago, one of the hottest questions in science was whether humans could teach animals to talk. Scientists tried using sign language to converse with apes and trained parrots to deploy growing English vocabularies. The work quickly attracted…
Patient Dies Weeks After Kidney Transplant From Genetically Modified Pig
Richard “Rick” Slayman, who made history at age 62 as the first person to receive a kidney from a genetically modified pig, has died about two months after the procedure. Massachusetts General Hospital, where Mr. Slayman had the operation, said…
Biden Administration to Pay Dairy Farmers for Bird Flu Protective Measures
The Biden administration said on Friday that it would compensate dairy farmers for cooperating with its efforts to limit the spread of the bird flu virus, part of a series of expansive measures aimed at containing an outbreak. The payment…
The Ages When You Feel Most Lonely and How to Reconnect
When Surgeon General Vivek Murthy went on a nationwide college tour last fall, he started to hear the same kind of question time and again: How are we supposed to connect with one another when nobody talks anymore? In an…
Nancy Neveloff Dubler, Mediator for Life’s Final Moments, Dies at 82
Nancy Neveloff Dubler, a medical ethicist who pioneered using mediation at hospital bedsides to navigate the complex dynamics among headstrong doctors, anguished family members and patients in their last days, died on April 14 at her home on the Upper…
Herbert Pardes, Who Steered the Growth of a Giant Hospital, Dies at 89
Dr. Herbert Pardes, a psychiatrist and a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health who brought order to the merger of two major medical centers that became New York-Presbyterian Hospital and ran it for 11 years, died on…
How Poor Tracking of Bird Flu Leaves Dairy Workers at Risk
Even as it has become increasingly clear that the bird flu outbreak on the nation’s dairy farms began months earlier — and is probably much more widespread — than previously thought, federal authorities have emphasized that the virus poses little…
Environmental Changes Are Fueling Human, Animal and Plant Diseases, Study Finds
Several large-scale, human-driven changes to the planet — including climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of invasive species — are making infectious diseases more dangerous to people, animals and plants, according to a new study. Scientists have…
Milton Diamond, Sexologist and Advocate for Intersex Babies, Dies at 90
Academic conferences are usually staid affairs, but the 1973 International Symposium on Gender Identity, held in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, was an exception. Everything was peaceful until a psychologist named John Money stood and yelled, “Mickey Diamond, I hate your guts!” Milton…
RFK Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain
In 2010, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was experiencing memory loss and mental fogginess so severe that a friend grew concerned he might have a brain tumor. Mr. Kennedy said he consulted several of the country’s top neurologists, many of whom…
Study Suggests Genetics as a Cause, Not Just a Risk, for Some Alzheimer’s
Scientists are proposing a new way of understanding the genetics of Alzheimer’s that would mean that up to a fifth of patients would be considered to have a genetically caused form of the disease. Currently, the vast majority of Alzheimer’s…
Lead in Beethoven’s Hair Offers New Clues to Mystery of His Deafness
At 7 p.m. on May 7, 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven, then 53, strode onto the stage of the magnificent Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna to help conduct the world premiere of his Ninth Symphony, the last he would ever complete….
Kris Hallenga, Who Urged Young on Breast Cancer Awareness, Dies at 38
When Kris Hallenga was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer — the most advanced form — at 23, questions swirled through her head: “Why didn’t anyone tell me to check my boobs? Why didn’t I know I could get breast…
First Patient Begins Sickle Cell Gene Therapy That F.D.A. Approved
On Wednesday, Kendric Cromer, a 12-year-old boy from a suburb of Washington, became the first person in the world with sickle cell disease to begin a commercially approved gene therapy that may cure the condition. For the estimated 20,000 people…
Pasteurized Dairy Foods Free of Live Bird Flu, Federal Tests Confirm
Additional testing of retail dairy products from across the country has turned up no signs of live bird flu virus, strengthening the consensus that pasteurization is protecting consumers from the threat, federal health and agriculture officials said at a news…
Robert Oxnam, China Scholar Beset by Multiple Personalities, Dies at 81
Robert B. Oxnam, an eminent China scholar who learned through psychotherapy that his years of erratic behavior could be explained by the torment of having multiple personalities, died on April 18 at his home in Greenport, N.Y., on the North…
Widening Racial Disparities Underlie Rise in Child Deaths in the U.S.
Some Context: A frightening trend examined more closely. Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University and Children’s Hospital of Richmond had previously revealed that mortality rates among children and adolescents had risen by 18 percent between 2019 and 2021. Deaths related to…
Thousands Believe Covid Vaccines Harmed Them. Is Anyone Listening?
Even leading experts in vaccine science have run up against disbelief and ambivalence. Dr. Gregory Poland, 68, editor in chief of the journal Vaccine, said that a loud whooshing sound in his ears had accompanied every moment since his first…
New Mutations Identified in Bird Flu Virus
The bird flu virus sweeping across dairy farms in multiple states has acquired dozens of new mutations, including some that may make it more adept at spreading between species and less susceptible to antiviral drugs, according to a new study….
Covid Vaccine Side Effects: 4 Takeaways From Our Investigation
Soon after their arrival in late December 2020, the Covid-19 vaccines turned the pandemic around and opened a path back to normalcy. They prevented about 14.4 million deaths worldwide, according to one estimate. In a small percentage of people, they…
Larry Young, Who Studied the Chemistry of Love, Dies at 56
Prairie voles are stocky rodents and Olympian tunnellers that surface in grassy areas to feast on grass, roots and seeds with their chisel-shaped teeth, sprouting migraines in farmers and gardeners. But to Larry Young, they were the secret to understanding…
Orangutan Seen Healing His Facial Wound With Medicinal Plant
Scientists observed a wild male orangutan repeatedly rubbing chewed-up leaves of a medicinal plant on a facial wound in a forest reserve in Indonesia. It was the first known observation of a wild animal using a plant to treat a…
Walnuts Recalled From Whole Foods After E. Coli Outbreak
A California company is recalling organic walnuts that were sold at natural food stores and coop retailers in 19 states because of an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 12 people and hospitalized seven, federal officials said. Gibson Farms, the…
UnitedHealth’s CEO Slammed Over Cyberattack
In a tense Senate hearing on Wednesday, lawmakers sharply criticized UnitedHealth Group’s handling of the cyberattack that paralyzed the U.S. health care system, citing the failure of its security systems and the potential disclosure of sensitive medical information of millions…
Barbra Streisand’s Ozempic Comment to Melissa McCarthy Prompts a Conversation
On Monday, the actress Melissa McCarthy posted a photo to Instagram in which she was wearing a tiered, sea-foam-green gown at a gala she had attended alongside the director Adam Shankman. Though the photo itself didn’t cause much of a…
In Reversal, Expert Panel Recommends Breast Cancer Screening at 40
Citing rising breast cancer rates in young women, an expert panel on Tuesday recommended starting regular mammography screening at age 40, reversing longstanding and controversial guidance that most women wait until 50. The panel, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force,…
How Supplement Stores Are Trying to Tap Into the Ozempic Boom
As diabetes and weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy took off in the last few years, many people turned away from established diet and nutrition products. Now, two retailers that specialize in nutritional supplements — GNC and the Vitamin Shoppe…
CPAP Lawsuits Settled for $1.1 Billion
Philips Respironics has reached a $1.1 billion settlement over claims that people who used their CPAP and other breathing devices were harmed by noxious gasses and flecks of foam that lodged in their airways, sometimes for years. Thousands of people…
Beth Linker is Turning Good Posture On its Head
For decades, the idea of standing properly upright carried considerable political and social baggage. Slouching was considered a sign of decay. In the early 20th century, posture exams became mainstays in the military, the workplace and schools, thanks in part…
U.S. Lags Behind Other Countries in Hepatitis-C Cures
In the 10 years since the drugmaker Gilead debuted a revolutionary treatment for hepatitis C, a wave of new therapies have been used to cure millions of people around the world of the blood-borne virus. Today, 15 countries, including Egypt,…
Penny Simkin, ‘Mother of the Doula Movement,’ Dies at 85
Penny Simkin, a childbirth educator and author who was often described as the “mother of the doula movement,” died on April 11 at her home in Seattle. She was 85. The cause was pancreatic cancer, said her daughter, Linny Simkin….
Federal Officials Find No Live Bird Flu Virus in Initial Milk Tests
Federal regulators on Friday said that they had not yet discovered live bird flu virus in the first batch of retail milk samples they tested, a reassuring indication that the milk on store shelves remains safe despite an outbreak of…
Biden Delays Ban on Menthol Cigarettes
The Biden administration said on Friday that it was delaying a decision on whether to ban menthol cigarettes, effectively quashing a proposal that has divided Black American voters and fueled million-dollar lobbying campaigns from the tobacco industry in this presidential…
At Least Three Women Were Infected With H.I.V. After ‘Vampire Facials’
At least three women were infected with H.I.V. during cosmetic “vampire facial” procedures at an unlicensed spa in Albuquerque, federal officials said Thursday. It is the first time that H.I.V. transmission through cosmetic injection services has been documented, they said….
One in Five Milk Samples Nationwide Shows Genetic Traces of Bird Flu
Federal regulators have discovered fragments of bird flu virus in roughly 20 percent of retail milk samples tested in a nationally representative study, the Food and Drug Administration said in an online update on Thursday. Samples from parts of the…
Antidepressants: What to Know About Uses and Side Effects
Antidepressants are among the most prescribed medications in the United States. This is, in part, because the number of people diagnosed with depression and anxiety has been on the rise, and prescriptions jumped sharply among some age groups during the…
FDA Approves Antibiotic to Treat Urinary Infections
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the sale of an antibiotic for the treatment of urinary tract infections in women, giving U.S. health providers a powerful new tool to combat a common infection that is increasingly unresponsive to…
New Nutrition Guidelines Put Less Sugar and Salt on the Menu for School Meals
School meals will soon contain less salt and sugar, but can still include chocolate milk, under new nutrition guidelines released by the Biden administration. The Agriculture Department on Wednesday finalized the regulation it had first proposed in February 2023, having…
Fragments of Bird Flu Virus Discovered in Milk
Federal regulators said on Tuesday that samples of pasteurized milk from around the country had tested positive for inactive remnants of the bird flu virus that has been infecting dairy cows. The viral fragments do not pose a threat to…
Lori and George Schappell, Long-Surviving Conjoined Twins, Die at 62
Lori and George Schappell, conjoined twins whose skulls were partly fused but who managed to lead independent lives, died on April 7 in Philadelphia. They were 62. Their death, at a hospital, was announced by a funeral home, which did…
Joel Breman, Who Helped Stop an Ebola Outbreak in Africa, Dies at 87
Dr. Joel Breman, a specialist in infectious diseases who was a member of the original team that helped combat the Ebola virus in 1976, died on April 6 at his home in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 87. His death…
Bird Flu Is Infecting More Mammals. What Does That Mean for Us?
In her three decades of working with elephant seals, Dr. Marcela Uhart had never seen anything like the scene on the beaches of Argentina’s Valdés Peninsula last October. It was peak breeding season; the beach should have been teeming with…
‘Aging in Place, or Stuck in Place?’
When it came to housing, Susan Apel and Keith Irwin thought they had planned adroitly for later life. They bought a four-bedroom house on two acres in Lebanon, N.H., 24 years ago, and “we made sure to pay off the…
Let Them Eat … Everything
In the age of Ozempic, the “fat activist” Virginia Sole-Smith is inspiring and infuriating her followers.
Martin Wygod, a Winner on Wall Street and the Racetrack, Dies at 84
Martin J. Wygod, a Wall Street whiz who graduated from walking horses after races to owning and breeding championship thoroughbreds when he made millions from investing in online companies that sold pharmaceuticals by mail and pruned medical paperwork, died on…
Some Older Women Need Extra Breast Scans. Why Won’t Medicare Pay?
Mammograms can miss tumors in women with dense breast tissue. So for these patients, doctors often include a second scan — ultrasound, for example, or an M.R.I. — which is more likely to turn up cancers at early stages. But…
Scientists Fault Federal Response to Bird Flu Outbreaks on Dairy Farms
In the month since federal authorities announced an outbreak of bird flu on dairy farms, they have repeatedly reassured the public that the spate of infections does not impact the nation’s food or milk supply, and poses little risk to…
Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders Often Go Untreated for Parents on Medicaid
Some Context: Experts say bad situations can often be reversed with treatment. Both mental health and drug addiction crises have been roiling the country, and the effects of parental drug use and mental illness can quickly trickle down to their…
With Social Prescribing, Art and Volunteering Can Be Medicine
Prescriptions for social activities, exercise and the arts — first popularized in Britain — are coming to America. But some experts say the U.S. health care system may get in the way.
Women Talk Through Their Abortions on TikTok
“Have an abortion with me,” a single mother from Brooklyn named Sunni says as she twirls around her kitchen to light jazzy piano, before walking TikTok viewers through the steps she took to end her pregnancy at home. With states…
Colorado Bill Aims to Protect Consumer Brain Data
Consumers have grown accustomed to the prospect that their personal data, such as email addresses, social contacts, browsing history and genetic ancestry, are being collected and often resold by the apps and the digital services they use. With the advent…
Sleep Apnea Reduced in People Who Took Zepbound, Eli Lilly Reports
The pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly announced on Wednesday that its obesity drug tirzepatide, or Zepbound, provided considerable relief to overweight or obese people who had obstructive sleep apnea, or episodes of stopped breathing during sleep. The results, from a pair…
5 Takeaways From a Year of Medicaid Upheaval
Lindsey McNeil and her 7-year-old daughter, Noelle, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, were jolted by an alert they received from Florida’s Department of Children and Families late last month that Noelle would be losing her Medicaid coverage 10 days…
U.S. to Limit Deadly Mining Dust as Black Lung Resurges
Federal regulators on Tuesday will issue new protections for miners against a type of dust long known to cause deadly lung ailments — changes recommended by government researchers a half-century ago. Mining companies will have to limit concentrations of airborne…
David Egilman, Doctor Who Took On Drug Companies, Dies at 71
Dr. David Egilman, a physician and expert witness who, over a 35-year span, gave testimony in some 600 trials involving corporate malfeasance, resulting in billions of dollars in awards for victims and their survivors, died on April 2 at his…
‘Eldest Daughter Syndrome’ and Sibling Birth Order: Does it Matter?
In a TikTok video that has been watched more than 6 million times, Kati Morton, a licensed marriage and family therapist in Santa Monica, Calif., lists signs that she says can be indicative of “eldest daughter syndrome.” Among them: an…
Evan Stark, 82, Dies; Broadened Understanding of Domestic Violence
Evan Stark, who studied domestic violence with his wife and then pioneered a concept called “coercive control,” which describes the psychological and physical domination that abusers use to punish their partners, died on March 18 at his home in Woodbridge,…
PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ Are Pervasive in Water Worldwide, Study Finds
They’re in makeup, dental floss and menstrual products. They’re in nonstick pans and takeout food wrappers. Same with rain jackets and firefighting equipment, as well as pesticides and artificial turf on sports fields. They’re PFAS: a class of man-made chemicals…
National Academy Asks Court to Strip Sackler Name From Endowment
The National Academy of Sciences is asking a court to allow it to repurpose about $30 million in donations from the wealthy Sackler family, who controlled the company at the center of the opioid epidemic, and to remove the family…
24 Hours at a Makeshift Refuge for Migrants in the California Wilderness
It was 1:53 a.m., and Peter Fink was on a barren mountain plateau near Campo, Calif., passing out blankets to people from four continents who had arrived there under the cover of night. This was a nocturnal ritual for the…
Bennett Braun, Psychiatrist Who Fueled ‘Satanic Panic,’ Dies at 83
Bennett Braun, a Chicago psychiatrist whose diagnoses of repressed memories involving horrific abuse by devil worshipers helped to fuel what became known as the “satanic panic” of the 1980s and ’90s, died on March 20 in Lauderhill, Fla., north of…
The Push for a Better Dengue Vaccine Grows More Urgent
The outbreak of dengue fever that has unfolded in Latin America over the past three months is staggering in its scale — a million cases in Brazil in a matter of weeks, a huge spike in Argentina, a state of…
Texas Surgeon Is Accused of Secretly Denying Liver Transplants
For decades, Dr. J. Steve Bynon Jr., a transplant surgeon in Texas, gained accolades and national prominence for his work, including by helping to enforce professional standards in the country’s sprawling organ transplant system. But officials are now investigating allegations…
How to Be Less Self-Critical When Perfectionism Is a Trap
Yuxin Sun, a psychologist in Seattle, sees a lot of clients at her group practice who insist they aren’t perfectionists. “‘Oh, I’m not perfect. I’m far from perfect,’” they tell her. But perfectionism isn’t about being the best at any…