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A stuffed bear in a room of empty children's beds at Willowbrook Hospital.

The Horrors of Hepatitis Research

The abusive experiments on mentally disabled children at Willowbrook State School were only one part of a much larger unethical research program.
by Carl Elliott via New York Review of Books on October 31, 2024
A photograph of two Guatemalan women infected with syphillis in U.S. experiements, their eyes covered by black bars.

The Hidden U.S. Experiments in Guatemala

The U.S. purposefully infected thousands of Guatemalans with sexually-transmitted diseases in the 40s and 50s. Their grandchildren still carry the trauma.
by Lydia Crafts via Process: A Blog for American History on April 9, 2024
A young girl in profile with syringes looming behind and a reddish, gritty spiral behind

New Docs Link CIA to Medical Torture of Indigenous Children and Black Prisoners

While we may never know the full truth, we owe it to those harmed and killed to illuminate their stories.
by Orisanmi Burton via Truthout on June 22, 2023
Child in iron lung.

How the Iron Lung Transformed Polio Care

In 1928, two Americans invented a large metal breathing device that would become synonymous with polio treatment.
by Hannah Wunsch via UnDark on May 19, 2023
Collage of Holmesburg Prison aerial view with a gloved hand picking up a medical vial in the foreground.

Holmesburg Prison's Medical Experiments Are Philadelphia's 'Lasting Shame'

For over 20 years, Dr. Albert Kligman experimented on incarcerated men at Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison. Those who profited have yet to redress the harm.
by Tamar Sarai via Prism on May 15, 2023
Glass of wine spilling.

The Great Alcohol Health Flip-Flop Isn’t That Hard to Understand—If You Know Who Was Behind It

More than 30 years ago, the "French paradox" got America bleary-eyed.
by Tim Requarth via Slate on April 23, 2023
NFL bust broken at the head by Liam Eisenberg.

The Forgotten History of Head Injuries in Sports

Stephen Casper, a medical historian, argues that the danger of C.T.E. used to be widely acknowledged. How did we unlearn what we once knew?
by Ingfei Chen via The New Yorker on February 11, 2023
Black and white photograph of person using binoculars to look at whales.

“Weather Bad and Whales Un-Cooperative”

Looking back at the misadventures of mid-century whale cardiology expeditions.
by Anna Guasco via Nursing Clio on October 13, 2022
Statue of three women scientists.

The Unsung Heroes Who Ended a Deadly Plague

How a team of fearless American women overcame medical skepticism to stop whooping cough, a vicious infectious disease, and save countless lives.
by Richard Conniff via Smithsonian on February 23, 2022
This image made available by the National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Research in 2015 shows human colon cancer cells with the nuclei stained red.
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Richard Nixon’s War On Cancer Has Lessons For Biden’s New Push Against The Disease

Fifty years later, the legacy of the National Cancer Act illustrates the need for a broad approach.
by Eugene Rusyn, Abbe R. Gluck via Made By History on December 21, 2021
A blood bag

What the History of Blood Transfusion Reveals About Risk

Every medical intervention—even one with a centuries-long history—brings dangers, some of which become clear only later.
by Paul A. Offit via The Scientist on September 1, 2021
Vaccinations in Senegal
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Sending Vaccines to African Nations is Crucial. But They’re Rightly Wary About Foreign Medical Aid.

How medical humanitarianism helped facilitate exploitation of Africa.
by Gregg Mitman via Made By History on August 13, 2021
Cartoon of babies in petrie dishes.

A Long Incubation

It took hundreds of years of research to develop in-vitro fertilization or IVF.
by Eleri Harris via The Nib on March 15, 2021
Ketamine bottles

The Many Lives of Ketamine

Neuroscientist Bita Moghaddam traces the history of ketamine from the battlefield to the dance floor.
by Sam Kelly, Bita Moghaddam via The MIT Press Reader on October 20, 2020

Meanings and Materials of Miscarriage: How Babies in Jars Shaped Modern Pregnancy

In late-nineteenth-century America, the miscarried fetus became a scientific specimen.
by Shannon Withycombe via Nursing Clio on October 31, 2018

A History of Human Guinea Pigs

Medical science has always had a lax relationship to consent – especially with the marginalized.
by Line Høj Høstrup via The Nib on September 5, 2018
Painting from 1857 by Alexander Beydeman depicting the light-filled practise of homeopathy, including a silver-haired Hahnemann, watching disapprovingly on over the horrors wrought by traditional medicine, referred to as Allopathy

Proving It: The American Provers’ Union Documents Certain Ill Effects

The history of "proving", the practice of auto-experimentation that forms the cornerstone of homeopathic medicine.
by Alicia Puglionesi via The Public Domain Review on September 4, 2013
A “mosser” with a load of seaweed bound for the agar factory in Beaufort, N.C.

When Fishermen Harvested Seaweed: The Agar Industry in Beaufort, N.C. during the Second World War

How a small factory off the coast of North Carolina played a role in the war.
by David Cecelski via davidcecelski.com on February 12, 2025
Carrie Baker and her book Abortion Pills: US History and Politics.

The Forgotten—and Incredibly Important—History of the Abortion Pill

Mifepristone took longer to get approved than most drugs—but not because it was unsafe.
by Nina Martin via Mother Jones on February 7, 2025
A nurse passing a cup with methadone through a glass window.
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History Exposes the Flaw in RFK Jr.'s Drug Treatment Plan

Kennedy wants to create "wellness drug rehabilitation farms." But the U.S. tried it before, and it didn't work.
by Melody Glenn via Made By History on January 30, 2025
A collage of advertisements for lithium and lithium water.

The Truth About Lithium Might Never Come Out

Longevity enthusiasts are microdosing a 19th-century cure-all. Are they onto something?
by Shayla Love via The Atlantic on October 4, 2024
A boy sitting inside of an enclosed porch while his mother looks in from outside the door.

Inside Out

The magical in-betweenness—and surprising epidemiological history—of the porch.
by David Owen via The New Yorker on July 27, 2024
Tuskegee syphilis study.

All We Want is the Facts…Or Not

Shedding light on the truth of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
by Susan Reverby via Nursing Clio on July 25, 2024
Fanny Angelina Hesse in front of article about her accomplishments.

Meet the Forgotten Woman Who Revolutionized Microbiology With a Simple Kitchen Staple

Fanny Angelina Hesse introduced agar to the life sciences in 1881. A trove of unpublished family papers sheds new light on her many accomplishments.
by Corrado Nai via Smithsonian on June 25, 2024
A photograph of the author's brother, Steve, playing pool.

Imperfecta

Her brother’s disease leads a writer to challenge how we conceive of human abnormality in the emerging era of gene editing.
by Pamela Haag via The American Scholar on June 20, 2024
Boy receiving measles vaccination
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The Public Health Community Must Tell the Whole Measles Story

The anti-vaccine movement has gained ground because the public health community has denied the truth about measles.
by Elena Conis via Made By History on May 29, 2024
Black nurses and Sea View Hospital.

The ‘Black Angels’ Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis

Professional nurses who moved north during the Great Migration worked in New York City’s most contagious sanatorium — and changed the course of public health.
by Maria Smilios via The Emancipator on May 9, 2024
network of connected smiling faces

Ecstasy’s Odyssey

When the creator of MDMA first experimented with the drug, he felt a mellow sensation that he compared to "a low-calorie martini."
by Mike Jay via New York Review of Books on May 2, 2024
Iodized salt.

How the Arrival of Iodized Salt 100 Years Ago Changed America

On May 1, 1924, the first iodized salt appeared on shelves, quickly solving an iodine deficiency crisis that plagued the northern U.S. “goiter belt.”
by Ray Cavanaugh via Retropolis on May 1, 2024
Nurses with babies

Legacies of Eugenics: An Introduction

Despite assumptions about its demise, it is still enmeshed in the foundations of how some professions think about the world.
by Osagie K Obasogie via Los Angeles Review of Books on April 17, 2024
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