Human activities damage coral reef ecosystems. Application of the ‘germ theory’, proposed more than a century ago for human diseases, could foster action on global environmental ailments such as this.

This video follows the uneasy shift from miasma fear to proven germ theory, and how that scientific breakthrough collided with a plumbing craze that cities were not ready for. As clean water surged ...

Back in February 2019, when the pandemic was still far from most people thoughts, the Fox News programme Fox & Friends aired a segment in which contributor Pete Hegseth revealed he had not washed his ...

Strange as it may seem, early germ theorists could tell us a lot about today’s attitudes toward climate change. While researching for a new book about the history of emerging infections, I found many ...

In recent months, the U.S. government has taken steps to defund and dismantle key infectious disease programs, including a National Institutes of Health lab that has contributed to groundbreaking work ...

The British Medical Journal is launching a competition to decided the greatest medical breakthrough. Present-day medical experts are championing discoveries from the last 166 years. Harry Burn, Chief ...

Editor’s note: This year What If?, our annual collection of scenarios, considers the future of health. Each of these stories is fiction, but grounded in historical fact, current speculation and real ...