Taunya English

Children enjoy the warm weather in the playground at Franklin Square in Philadelphia. Friday will be another

‘Orange’ air pollution alert in Delaware Valley

This is the time of year when smog sends some kids to the emergency room. Thursday and Friday are “orange” ozone actio ...

8 years ago

The Pulse

Aphrodisiacs can spark sexual imagination, but probably not libido

No particular food is linked to desire…scientifically, anyway. So what do we know about the power of food to rev up sex driv ...

8 years ago

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DawnStar Sarahs-Borchelt from Main Line Doulas (left) helped West Chester, Pa., mom Colleen Frens (right) give birth to her son. (Taunya English/WHYY)

Doulas provide emotional support during labor, enhance chances for surgery-free delivery

Labor and delivery can be like a labyrinth, says doula DawnStar Sarahs-Borchelt. There are no wrong turns, but some inevitable twi ...

8 years ago

University of Delaware anthropologist Karen Rosenberg says the evolution of our huge human heads and the engineering of the bi-pedal pelvis necessarily make birth a social process. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

The Pulse

Evolution offers reasons for birth as a social event for humans

Bipedalism, big-headed babies make childbirth challenging. Moms giving birth often have quite an entourage these days. In addition ...

8 years ago

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Dr. Robyn Baron examines 25-year-old Jerry Rodriguez at the newest Temple ReadyCare urgent care site on Cottman Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia. (Taunya English/WHYY)

Convenient-care providers can see you when your own doctor can’t

When what ails you is troubling but not an emergency, there’s now an expanding array of options for seeing a doctor or getting patc ...

8 years ago

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The Pulse

Is high-deductible insurance changing healthcare shopping habits?

New Jersey resident Ray Rizzuto says he keeps a closer watch on healthcare spending ever since he switched his family to high-deductible ...

8 years ago

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A man works with an occupational therapist during a therapy session in Hatboro, Pennsylvania. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo)

Federal rating: 40 percent of Pa. nursing homes earn low scores

In Pennsylvania, 40 percent or more of nursing homes have gotten the lowest scores from the government’s ...

8 years ago

Still image from the motion picture 'Home' shows Gbenga Akinnagbe playing a man with mental illness who wants to move out of a group home and into a home of his own. A Philly coalition advocating culturally competent care is screening the film.

Putting research into practice, group aims to improve mental health care for African-Americans

In Philadelphia, a new group is working to provide better and more tailored mental health care for African-Americans. The Coalitio ...

8 years ago

The Pulse

Who’s policing our food, medicine to keep us safe?

FDA Inspector: ‘I could tell you stories all day.’ You see the headlines all the time: A recall on over-the-counter me ...

8 years ago

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Philadelphia's skyline seen from across the Schuylkill Expressway. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

Where’s the worst place to live if you have asthma?

Memphis tops the list, but this year Philadelphia is No. 3 — and Allentown is No. 19 — ...

8 years ago

Emergency room doctors say they are busier than ever

In a new survey of emergency physicians, doctors say they are seeing more patients come through the door since the rollout of the Afforda ...

8 years ago

Too much fluoride can create a condition called fluorosis—white spots on the teeth. By josconklin (Own work) [<a href=

CC BY-SA 3.0]" title="1280px-Dental_fluorosis" width="360" height="240"/>

The Pulse

Health officials recommend lower fluoride levels for drinking water

Worries about fluoride in water have evolved over the decades. One of the first water fluoridation studies was in Grand Rapids, Mi ...

8 years ago

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