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You rub and rub your eyes, but they won't stop itching. When you look in the mirror, they are red and puffy. What's going on? Do you have a strange sickness? No — you have a common problem called conjunctivitis. Most people call it pinkeye. What Is C...

You rub and rub your eyes, but they won't stop itc...

In the spring and summer, you might hear about something called Lyme disease. It has nothing to do with limes, but it does have something to do with ticks, those creepy, tiny bugs that like to drink human blood. Disgusting! Blame Lyme disease on thos...

In the spring and summer, you might hear about som...

What do you think of when you hear the word fungus? Do you think of mushrooms? A mushroom is one type of fungus, but fungus also refers to a type of germ that lives on all of us. This germ is harmless most of the time, but sometimes it can cause a pr...

What do you think of when you hear the word fungus...

Do you know the character Madeline? In one of the stories, she awakens one night at boarding school with a bad pain in her belly. The doctor says it's her appendix causing the pain, so she's rushed to the hospital for an operation. Soon, she recovers...

Do you know the character Madeline? In one of the ...

You haven't been feeling so great for the last few days, and you've had a runny nose and a cough. Then one morning you wake up and stumble into the bathroom. You look in the mirror with blurry eyes and — yikes! You have chickenpox! What Is Chickenpox...

You haven't been feeling so great for the last few...

The last time Jeremy had a physical exam, his doctor listened to his heart once — and then he listened to it some more. At the end of the appointment, the doctor told Jeremy and his mom that he heard a heart murmur. Jeremy had to visit another doctor...

The last time Jeremy had a physical exam, his doct...

You know the sound of your heartbeat: lub-dub, lub-dub. In some people, there's an extra noise that the blood makes as it flows through the heart. It sounds sort of like the noise of water flowing through a hose. This sound is called a murmur (say: M...

You know the sound of your heartbeat: lub-dub, lub...

Many kids and grown-ups have something called mitral valve prolapse (say: my-trul valv pro-laps). For most people, it's a heart problem that isn't much to worry about. What Is the Mitral Valve? The mitral valve is part of the heart. Remember how the ...

Many kids and grown-ups have something called mitr...

Yoga and You When you hear the word yoga, do you think of a person with his legs twisted up like a pretzel? If so, it may seem like yoga is very complicated or just for adults. Not true! Kids and teens can do yoga for the same reasons grown-ups do:...

Yoga and You When you hear the word yoga, do you ...

Not everyone likes organized sports or team sports. If this sounds like you, don't sweat it. We're going to talk about what keeps some kids from liking sports. With a few changes, you might find out that there is a sport out there that you could lik...

Not everyone likes organized sports or team sports...

Sports are a great way to have fun and stay active. Kids have lots of choices about which sports to do and whether to compete in sports or just play them for fun. One kid might be happy to shoot baskets at the park, whereas another kid may prefer bei...

Sports are a great way to have fun and stay active...

What does it mean to be green? "Green" is more than just a color. It also means taking special steps to protect the environment — the water, the land, and the air we breathe. Why green? Plants are green, and without them the Earth wouldn't be such a ...

What does it mean to be green? "Green" is more tha...

Hemophilia (say: hee-muh-fih-lee-uh) is a genetic disorder in which a person's blood does not clot properly. A person who has hemophilia has a tendency to bleed excessively. Think of the last time you had a cut or scrape. When the bleeding stops on i...

Hemophilia (say: hee-muh-fih-lee-uh) is a genetic ...

Have you ever seen a sickle? It's a farm tool with a curved, sharp edge for cutting wheat. Sickle cell anemia (say: uh-nee-mee-uh) is a disease of the blood. It gets its name because a person's red blood cells are shaped like sickles, or crescent moo...

Have you ever seen a sickle? It's a farm tool with...

Don't you love swimming in a cool, blue pool? Splashing around in that clear water, floating like a lily pad, swimming like a shark. But imagine if the water wasn't clear or clean. What if it was filled with leaves, dirt, hair, and drowned bugs? Yeee...

Don't you love swimming in a cool, blue pool? Spla...

Q: What do you do five to six times a day but never think twice about? A: Pee! But if you have a urinary tract infection, or UTI, you're probably thinking about peeing quite a lot. Why? Because it stings when you go — yow! You also might have the f...

Q: What do you do five to six times a day but neve...

When you're hungry, your stomach lets out a growl or two. When you run around, your heart lets you know it's really working by boom, boom, booming! But some important body parts are quiet as a whisper. Psst — we're talking about your kidneys. What Ar...

When you're hungry, your stomach lets out a growl ...

Problems Learning and Functioning There's a kid at school who seems different. You've heard people say he's "retarded," but you've also heard people use that word to make fun of each other. Mental retardation (say: ree-tar-day-shun) is a term that wa...

Problems Learning and Functioning There's a kid at...

Tilt your head back a bit and look in the mirror. Do you see the way your nose connects to your upper lip? Now open your mouth. Do you see the seam on the roof of your mouth? Sometimes you can feel it with your finger or your tongue. That's where you...

Tilt your head back a bit and look in the mirror. ...

What exactly is the West Nile virus? And why is everyone talking about mosquitoes? Even though it was discovered all the way back in 1937 in Africa, the West Nile virus probably didn't make its way to the United States until 1999. But since then, it ...

What exactly is the West Nile virus? And why is ev...

Your dream finally came true . . . it was announced on the radio and on TV . . . it's a snow day! School's closed for the whole day, and that means it's time for one thing: going outside to have fun in the snow. Or maybe you're getting ready go on a ...

Your dream finally came true . . . it was announce...