Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

How does the brain think? – Tom, age 16, San Diego, California

Have you ever wondered how your brain creates thoughts or why something randomly popped into your head? It ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My mom had a pap smear recently, and the results came back as abnormal. After further testing, we were shocked when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She didn't have any symptoms. Now, her health care team is discussing surgery and medications. What should I know about her illness? As her daughter, should I be worried ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I have been diagnosed with a brain tumor and advised to have radiation therapy. I'm very nervous about this and the risks for me, my family and, potentially, another cancer diagnosis. Can you explain why radiation therapy could be right for me?

ANSWER: Radiation therapy has been used to treat cancer since the beginning of the ...Read more

You know losing that extra weight would be good for your health. Your health care team talked with you about how obesity increases your risk of other health issues, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and certain types of cancer. They even worked out a healthy eating plan, and you want to stick to it. And you do well for many ...Read more

Even if you have health insurance, you might expect to be charged a copayment for some routine care, like office-based exams and consultations. But you probably don’t expect to receive a bill a few weeks later charging you an extra $100 or more.

That’s the situation an increasing number of state lawmakers are looking to change. In ...Read more

“Congress prohibits the NIH from researching the cause of mass shootings.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in an April 21 post on X

____

The National Institutes of Health is the federal government’s main agency for supporting medical research. Is it barred from researching mass shootings? That’s what presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr....Read more

Aside from all the physical changes, adolescents are developing skills that help prepare them for adulthood. Part of this means participating more in their own health care. The adolescent well-child visits are tailored to support your family in this process.

Although pediatricians lend their own style to their examinations, many start the ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I've never had my blood drawn before, but I have to go in for testing soon. Honestly, I'm pretty nervous about it. What can I expect?

ANSWER: It can be a little nerve-wracking at first, but having blood drawn is a quick procedure that can be painless — sometimes, people don't even know that the collection has started!

It's ...Read more

Diagnosing a person with autism spectrum disorder can be challenging. It's a medical condition that no blood test, brain scan or objective test can pinpoint. And because of each person's distinctive pattern of symptoms, it can be hard to determine its severity.

As people gain familiarity with autism, however, they are becoming more open to ...Read more

Belmont Cragin residents were filing into the cafeteria at Prieto Math and Science Academy last month to weigh in on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s signature plan to overhaul Chicago’s mental health system when they got unexpected evidence that the bold, still largely theoretical plan remains a focus at City Hall.

Into the school walked Johnson, ...Read more

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

Drinking beer and spirits is linked to elevated levels of visceral fat – the harmful type of fat that is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and other health complications – whereas drinking wine shows no such ...Read more

Marisol Pantoja Toribio found a lump in her breast in early January. Uninsured and living in California without legal status and without her family, the usually happy-go-lucky 43-year-old quickly realized how limited her options were.

“I said, ‘What am I going to do?’” she said in Spanish, quickly getting emotional. She immediately ...Read more

ATLANTA — A new study has brought the public health concern of vaping back to the forefront. Electronic cigarettes have already been branded unsafe for kids, teens and young adults by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and new evidence has linked the vapes to possible increased exposure of harmful heavy metals.

Most...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A.J. took two small hits off a cannabis vape pen, a common ritual with his morning coffee. Moments after exhaling, a transfigured, kaleidoscopic version of the world emerged before his eyes.

“Some colors are seeping into the other colors,” the 30-year-old said, gesturing across his art-filled living room in Yorba Linda. “...Read more

Private Medicaid health plans lost millions of members in the past year as pandemic protections that prohibited states from dropping anyone from the government program expired.

But despite Medicaid’s unwinding, as it’s known, at least two of the five largest publicly traded companies selling plans have continued to increase revenue from the...Read more

The popularity of pickleball has exploded in the last few years, and according to a recent report, so have injuries attributed to the relatively new sport.

Dr. Sanj Kakar, a Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hand and wrist disorders, says there are two main injuries he sees due to pickleball. He offers three ways to prevent them...Read more

At an auction in England in 2011, one of John Lennon’s teeth sold for just over US$31,000.

How much are your teeth worth?

Teeth are amazing little miracles. They light up our smiles, we use them to speak and we chew with them more than 600 times at every meal.

Yet, in a society where 1 out of 5 Americans ages 75 and ...Read more

Mayo Clinic researchers used a new approach to chemotherapy to more than double the typical survival rate for patients with stomach cancer and peritoneal metastasis, which is cancer that has spread to the lining of the abdominal cavity, according to a study published in the Annals of Surgical Oncology.

Stomach cancer, which is also called ...Read more