Health

While mice sleep, their brain cells shrink, allowing cerebrospinal fluid to flow easily around them. The fluid can then clear away toxins. This finding appears to offer the best explanation yet of why animals and people need sleep.

On Tuesday, if all goes according to plan, the federal health law's marketplaces for individual health insurance are scheduled to open for business.Nearly…

Children who are the target of physical aggression or verbal abuse from siblings are more depressed and anxious than children who aren't victimized. Parents tend to consider sibling conflict normal, researchers say, but they should teach children how to fight fair to reduce psychological distress.

Treating depression is a hit-or-miss process; the first treatment works less than half the time. Scientists say they may be able to use PET brain scans to tell whether antidepressants or cognitive behavioral therapy will work best. But tailored treatments are still far off.

A Utah biotech company argued that its discovery of two genes highly associated with breast and ovarian cancer deserved to be patented. A unanimous court disagreed. Researchers, medical groups and patients had been pushing for the patent to be denied.

While there's been quite a debate lately about whether salt in the modern American diet is risky, there's no question that a massive amount of salt ingested quickly can lead to death. A young man in Virginia who chugged a bottle of soy sauce survived after prompt, aggressive medical treatment.

Women who took aspirin at least a couple of times a week for five years or more cut their risk of melanoma by 30 percent. The new study adds to the mounting pile of research suggesting that cheap, common aspirin lowers the risk of many cancers, including colon, breast, esophagus, stomach, prostate, bladder and ovarian cancer.

Essential benefit requirements apply mainly to individual and small group plans. The federal requirements also affect benefits provided to people newly eligible for Medicaid coverage. Now, for instance, we know that insurers won't be allowed to can't charge consumers a copay for a screening colonoscopy, even if a polyp is removed.

Turns out, the sugar in regular soda helps slow down your body's absorption of the alcohol in cocktails. So switching to diet in your rum and cola will save you calories but may leave you spinning.

Some people with damage to a specific region of the brain called the amygdala do not feel fear. If you make them handle a snake or show them a scene from a scary movie such as The Shining, they won't be affected. But breathing in air with high levels of carbon dioxide can send them into a panic.