Behavioral scientists are fascinated by why people buy exercise machines, only to let them rust.

Men who want to know whether they’re more likely to father a boy or a girl may garner clues from their family tree.

Ira’s story is a classic example of invasive cardiology run amok.

A new study reports that the heart attack victims who gasp are more likely to survive — especially if they are given chest compressions right away.

Teenagers often use social networking sites like MySpace to post intimate personal information they come to regret.

Researchers said that especially with young patients who were overweight but not yet obese, doctors might be missing a good chance to intervene.

Doctors can’t explain it, but every day in medicine there are people who know they are near death, no matter what the tests show.

The Ebola virus, which causes a deadly hemorrhagic fever, has surfaced for the second time in less than two years in south-central Congo.

Recent research has helped clarify not just who is prone to self-handicapping but also its consequences — and its possible benefits.

National health spending grew in 2007 at the lowest rate in nine years, mainly because prescription drug spending increased at the slowest pace since 1963.

Doctors will be able to make face-to-face Web calls on patients in Hawaii starting Jan. 15.

The quality of cancer care at different hospitals is uneven and raises thorny questions about what informed consent should mean.

The new Congress plans to move aggressively against the tobacco industry by regulating cigarettes, raising sales taxes and ratifying an international antitobacco treaty.

There is a much higher rate of hospitalization for most kinds of accidental injury in rural areas than in cities, a new report indicates.

A nutrient bonanza available in markets even during the coldest months.

Health news from around the Web.

Could cooking oil, spices or canned foods stored next to a microwave oven be receiving unhealthy doses of microwave emissions?

Some Latina women are using drugs or potentially harmful home methods to end their pregnancies.

A childhood devoid of junk food breeds certain cravings.

An “anti-energy” drink’s novel image: chic — or shameful?