Pregnant women should avoid additives called phthalates found in common household products, according to US researchers, who found evidence that the substances may reduce children’s IQ. Children whose mothers had the highest levels of phthalates had IQs on average seven points below those whose

“I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with you.” The psychiatrist’s words pierced like a bullet. Months of suppressed grief became fat, heaving sobs and one defeated plea, “why are you doing this to me?”, before I ran out and collapsed at my husband’s feet. We’d been cut loose, left alone to

Five years ago, soon after he turned 29, Adam Alter, a South African-born, Australian-raised academic living in New York, was struck by a sudden realisation: in less than a year, barring calamities, he’d be 30. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so surprised, given that his job, as a professor of

Today’s news features a set of brilliantly daft pictures from a Chinese hospital that is offering men the opportunity to experience the pain of childbirth. The labour-simulating device (which sounds like a supercharged version of those useless abdominal toners sold to optimistic couch potatoes on

A campaign, Choosing Wisely, to help doctors to cause less harm is gaining momentum across the world. It began in the US two years ago, with the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) helping specialists to compile lists of unnecessary or harmful medical interventions in their field. In the UK,