The human brain is often compared to a computer, but the latest wave of research shows it is closer to a self-building city, ...

Mosquito bites are itchy and we tend to scratch itchy things. The scratching feels good in the short term but tends to hasten and exacerbate swelling and inflammation. This leads to more scratching ...

Scratch-off tickets are big money for state-run lotteries. Is it the promise of winning big that keeps players in the game? Or is there something else happening in the brain? NOVA is available to ...

It can be a relief to scratch the occasional itch, but when itch gets out of control, it can become a serious health problem. How does the body know when to stop? Scientists at UC San Francisco are ...

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.