Maryn McKenna is a journalist specializing in public health, global health and food policy and is a contributing editor at Scientific American. She is author of Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats (National Geographic Books, 2017).
The Beauty of ‘Slow Flowers’ versus the Pretty Poison of Plants Grown with Dangerous Chemicals
New “slow flower” farms grow beautiful blooms—without health-harming chemicals used by overseas operations that dominate the U.S. flower market
Cures for Sickle Cell Disease Arrive After a Painful Journey
Illuminating the experience of people living with sickle cell could improve patients’ lives and enhance all of medicine
Deadly Fungi Are the Newest Emerging Microbe Threat All Over the World
These pathogens already kill 1.6 million people every year, and we have few defenses against them
Why Deadly ‘Black Fungus’ Is Ravaging COVID Patients in India
Standard treatments such as steroids, as well as illnesses such as diabetes, make the fungal infection worse
The Antibiotic Gamble
Paratek Pharmaceuticals made a life-saving drug and got it approved. So why is the company’s long-term survival still in question?
In the Fight against Infectious Disease, Social Changes Are the New Medicine
Vaccines and drugs drove a century of progress, but today’s contagions thrive on inequality
Maryn McKenna's Big Chicken, Part 2
Award-winning journalist Maryn McKenna talks about her latest book, Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats. (Part 2 of 2)
Maryn McKenna's Big Chicken, Part 1
Award-winning journalist Maryn McKenna talks about her latest book, Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats. (Part 1 of 2)
A Flu Vaccine That’s Always in Season
A single shot to thwart all flu viruses may be within reach
Researchers Struggle to Develop New Treatments for Sepsis
During sepsis, the body attacks itself. Researchers are working on new ways to fight back
Small Gadgets That Make You Healthier
Mobile phones and tiny sensors are making it easier to quickly flag health trends
Virtues of the Virtual Autopsy
Medical imaging offers new ways to examine the deceased
Clean Sweep: Hospitals Bring Janitors to the Front Lines of Infection Control
Hospitals bring janitors to the front lines of infection control
International AIDS Conference Returns to U.S. with Much Remaining Undone
So much changed in a 22-year span since the conference was last held in the U.S. that its return effectively marks a new phase in the epidemic in terms of treatment, prevention, funding and death rates
Return of the Clap
Gonorrhea, once a minor illness, is developing resistance to the last category of drugs that still works against it and could become untreatable
Food Poisoning's Hidden Legacy
Most people think of foodborne illness as an unpleasant few days of fever and diarrhea, but for some there may be lifelong consequences
Diabetes Mystery: Why Are Type 1 Cases Surging?
Researchers are baffled by the worldwide increase in type 1 diabetes, the less common form of the disease
Swapping Germs: Should Fecal Transplants Become Routine for Debilitating Diarrhea?
A potentially beneficial but unusual treatment for serious intestinal ailments may fall victim to regulatory difficulties
The Enemy within: A New Pattern of Antibiotic Resistance
A new pattern of antibiotic resistance that is spreading around the globe may soon leave us defenseless against a frighteningly wide range of dangerous bacterial infections
A New Strain of Drug-Resistant Staph Infection Found in U.S. Pigs
If the newly arrived European strain leads to disease in humans, it would further complicate the struggle against antibiotic-resistant MRSA