Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. We all know that yawns are contagious, and even the word in print can be enough to inspire one. (Sorry! Also: Yawn, yawn, yawn.) Now, a ...

Have you ever wondered why scratching sometimes makes itching even worse? The neurotransmitter serotonin has been fingered as one troublemaker as the brain tries to control pain caused by scratching.

Despite the saying “happiness is having a scratch for every itch,” itching often makes the itchy skin condition worse. So why is the instinct so strong? In a study with mice, researchers from the ...

Researchers might have finally scratched below the surface of this medical mystery. Itchiness is a common symptom of various skin conditions, but why that is has long been unclear — until now. A new ...

That itchy feeling isn’t just in your head, in some cases it might actually be all over you. And it may literally get on your nerves. New research published Wednesday in Cell indicates that a common ...

One of the greatest pleasures in life is to scratch an itch — in both the real and figurative sense. Although scratching an itch provides immediate (albeit temporary) relief, it may actually trigger ...

Journalist Annie Lowrey has a rare disease that causes a near-constant itch that doesn't respond to most treatments. She likens the itchiness to a... Chronic itch is miserable. Scientists are just ...

I remember it well: our dark winter of itch when the kids were small. It started with a note sent home—years before the pandemic—that my child had been exposed, not to a deadly virus but to lice.

Living with MS means adjusting to new challenges, and for columnist Desiree Lama, one of those things is an itch she can't ...

Medical science has deciphered many of the body’s workings, down to the level of the gene, and isn’t too far from using stem cells to repair its hobbled organs. But in many ways, the human body ...