Nicole Wetsman

Hurricane Sandy tore through the east coast in 2012, killing 48 people, leaving millions without power, and causing billions in damages. On the coast of New Jersey, storm surges reach record heights, and hundreds of thousands of homes were…

As a sleep researcher, Rebecca Robbins is used to hearing misconceptions about shut-eye. “People say, is it true that you need seven hours? I get by on five,” says Robbins, a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Healthful Behavior Change at NYU…

Concussions aren’t like broken bones: There’s no foolproof way, like an x-ray, to diagnose the common brain injuries. That’s a challenge for coaches and athletic trainers, who regularly decide whether a knock to the head means an athlete has to leave…

Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the United States, which is one reason why doctors encourage patients to get mammograms, which can identify problems before symptoms appear. But various medical associations, which put…

The patient lying on the emergency room table in front of Paul Pugsley was having a stroke. Time was running out. Pugsley, an emergency medicine resident at Maricopa Medical Center, knew he needed to send the patient for a CT scan. But when Pugsley…

Before 1986, emergency rooms in the United States routinely turned patients away at the door if they didn’t have insurance. In fact, it was legal to do so. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), passed that year, looked to…

Sometime between the ages of 45 and 50, people with breasts start routinely squishing them into a machine. This process is called a mammogram. The test checks for early signs of breast cancer, and can detect the cancer before a full breast lump…

The American Association of Pediatrics has long recommended that children and their families cut down on sugar-sweetened beverages, like soda, sweetened fruit juices, and sports drinks. Now, along with the American Heart Association, the organization…

The first drug to treat postpartum depression, a condition that affects up to 1 in 7 women, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration this week. The medication, called brexanolone, is delivered by infusion and, in clinical trials,…

In Washington State, 71 people have had the measles since the start of 2019. An ongoing outbreak in Rockland County, New York, has spread too 143 people. So far this year, there have been 206 cases of the disease in the United States. But measles is…

Every day, doctors write prescriptions for medications that will treat various ailments in their patients. Those prescriptions, though, come once the patient is already sick. In an effort to stop disease before it starts, some researchers are pushing…

Like all obstetricians and gynecologists, Aaron Lazorwitz would occasionally have patients who said that they used birth control perfectly, but still got pregnant. “It’s always the assumption that they must have done something wrong, and missed a…

Public health conversations around vaping usually focus on the challenges of keeping young, non-smokers away from the devices, and how to reconcile that with their potential ability to help adult smokers transition off of cigarettes. What’s less…

For the second time, doctors are reporting that a patient’s HIV has gone into sustained remission following a stem cell transplant—leaving him effectively cured of the disease. Play Video Play Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Remaining Time -0:00 This is a…

When an ultrasound shows that a pregnancy contains two babies within the same placenta, it’s usually a good sign that the twins are identical. But in a case study reported this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, that observation was quickly…

If you’re not getting enough sleep during the week, new research suggests that you can’t make up for it on the weekends. The small study, published in the journal Current Biology, found that people who slept too little during the week and tried to…

In the United States, screening for colorectal cancer is usually unpleasant. A patient’s preparation begins with a liquid diet, laxatives, and the uncomfortable knowledge of where the colonoscopy camera is going to go. Play Video Play Loaded:…

In 2016, a team of Danish researchers published a study that showed people taking the drug fluconazole during pregnancy had a higher risk of spontaneous abortion. That finding made health agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sit up…

Since Jan. 1, 63 people in Washington state have come down with the measles. So far, the cases have been largely contained to one Washington county. But across the border in Idaho, officials are nervously watching the outbreak and response closely. A…