Health & Spirituality

Plans for the world's largest Hindu temple in Bihar, modeled on Cambodia's Angkor Wat, drew devotion and doubt in equal measure. The story behind the plan.

In 2012 the FDA approved the first quadrivalent flu vaccine, covering four strains instead of three. Why that one extra strain mattered.

Holiday kilos, a new year, and an unexpected discovery: one writer's lighthearted account of resolving to get fit and stumbling into a local velodrome.

A stranger's cruel get down to the gym, fatty remark in a nightclub pushed 26-year-old mother Sarah Gould to lose six stone in time for her wedding.

Penn State researchers found that active people report more excitement and enthusiasm — and that on any given day, being more active than usual delivers a

A Tel Aviv University study found a protein-rich breakfast including dessert helped dieters lose more weight and keep it off over 32 weeks than a strict diet.

Are whole eggs or egg whites better for you? The science on dietary cholesterol has shifted, and the yolk carries nutrients the white lacks.

Gottman's research says contempt is the strongest predictor of divorce. An argument that maintaining a baseline of respect is a condition for good behavior

Teen pregnancy, drinking, and risky behavior are all in long-term decline in America. The data says today's teenagers are more cautious than the generations

Dismissing walking as not exercise gets it backwards. Studies of millions of adults link regular brisk walking to sharply lower risks of death and disease.

How India stopped polio: one year with no cases by January 2012, removed from the WHO endemic list in February, and the 2-million-worker vaccination

UK researchers found breastfed babies cry more and fuss more easily than formula-fed ones — reassuring mothers that fussiness is normal, not a feeding failure.

Stanford researchers found that gazing at a photo of a beloved reduces pain — activating the brain's reward systems. Love really is a drug.

Two suburban families — one Muslim, one Christian — became genuine friends. A quiet Christmas-week story about what interfaith friendship actually looks like.

Dr. Wenyuan Shi's UCLA lab tested a peptide mouthwash (C16G2) that wipes out Streptococcus mutans — the main cause of cavities — while sparing the rest of

Research since 1972 shows appearance sways hiring — scars, birthmarks and asymmetry trigger snap judgments. What can candidates and employers do about it?

Happy couples gain weight, singles stay slim: a Heidelberg study of 2,000 people linked relationship happiness to body weight — and a crisis can trigger a diet.

From turmeric to methi to cumin — twelve everyday Indian foods with real research (or long tradition) behind their weight-management reputation.

Curcumin, turmeric's active compound, matched ibuprofen for knee osteoarthritis pain in some trials. What the research really says — plus the dose and

A landmark 2011 NEJM study found that low-income women who moved to less-poor neighborhoods via a housing-voucher lottery had lower rates of extreme obesity