CNN Health

Girls can't do math. Boys can't read.

As fears grow about the spread of novel coronavirus, there's increasing demand for facial masks. But there's something that can interfere with how effective those are -- and that's facial hair.

One of the top officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans on Tuesday that health experts foresee the novel coronavirus that has killed thousands spreading in the United States.

No drug manufacturers have reported that they anticipate shortages of particular drugs due to the novel coronavirus, according to the US Food and Drug Administration, but the agency and experts in the pharmaceutical industry are paying close attention to the potential challenges the virus might pose.

Ultramarathoners and other endurance runners take note: You can't rely on electrolyte sports drinks and supplements to keep essential salt levels in balance and prevent illness during and after these grueling races, according to a new study.

What is a pandemic? The deadly outbreak of a novel coronavirus has turned a spotlight on that question and the science of pandemics. A pandemic occurs when "there's a belief that the whole world's population will likely be exposed to this infection."

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning letter to the Jimmy John's sandwich chain, saying certain vegetables it served were implicated in five outbreaks of E. coli or salmonella in the past seven years.

Covid-19 will become a pandemic. We don't yet know how severe it will be, nor do we know if the virus will spread to all continents, but it's already spreading widely in China, South Korea, Italy, Iran and elsewhere -- and thousands of undetected and infectious patients have been and continue to travel around the world.

If sperm was an animal, science might worry that it's heading toward extinction in Western nations.

India has once again topped an annual list of cities with the worst air quality in the world, according to a new report, while Chinese cities have continued to show improvements from the previous year.

The world's oldest living man, Chitetsu Watanabe, has passed away in Japan at the age of 112, the Niigata prefecture government said in a statement Tuesday.

Heart disease is the number one killer of people worldwide.

Yet more bragging rights are in for the Mediterranean diet, long considered to be one of the healthiest in the world.

The word "fat" has haunted Harriet White her entire life.

My mother was one of four sisters. I have a younger sister, and between the two of us, we have four daughters.

A new study has linked a later bedtime with an increased risk of obesity for kids -- although the researchers say parents shouldn't rush to put their preschoolers to sleep earlier as a result.

The deadly outbreak of a novel coronavirus has raised concern worldwide but it has not developed yet into a full-blown pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. Here's why.

The sweet scent of baking cookies wafting from grandma's house may be mixed with a more pungent aroma these days. The smell of marijuana.

For decades, nearly every state has required law students to answer questions about their mental health treatment as part of the requirements before they can practice law. A wave of support has been building to remove such questions from what's known as the character and fitness reviews of bar applicants.

Growing up, I watched my father, a highly respected cardiologist, read medical journals every evening, answer emergency phone calls in the middle of many nights, and rush to the hospital after-hours several times a week. I didn't know it then, but these years were the peak of an epidemic of heart disease in the United States.