Mosaic

The uncertain future of genetic testing
Bringing genetics into medicine leads to more accuracy, better diagnosis and personalised treatment – but not for everyone. Carrie Arnold meets families for whom gene testing has led only to unanswered questions.
We need to change the way we think about genetic variation
Genetic variants that cause disease are rare, but this does not mean that all rare variants cause disease. So should we change the way we manage uncertainty in genetic testing?

Postpartum psychosis: “I’m afraid of how you’ll judge me, as a mother and as a person”
Catherine Carver recounts her terrifying journey into postpartum psychosis – and how she found healing in unexpected ways.

This week’s podcast: Kangaroo care – why keeping baby close is better for everyone
A shortage of incubators and a hunch about marsupials inspired a Colombian doctor to try something radical to save premature babies’ lives: constant skin-to-skin contact with parents. It’s cheaper than high-tech neonatal care – and it may be better, too.
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Iceland knows how to stop teen substance abuse but the rest of the world isn’t listening
Teenage smoking, drinking and drug use have been radically cut in the past 20 years. How?

Meet the dogs with OCD
Could understanding canine compulsions help find new treatments for people with obsessive–compulsive disorders too? Shayla Love investigates.

Reinventing the toilet
How one company’s vision for the humble loo is transforming lives, from Madagascar to UK music festivals.

My many selves: how I learned to live with multiple personalities
What happens when dissociative identity disorder takes away your sense of being an individual?

Mosaic archive
We've published over 150 in-depth stories. Browse our archive here, and don't miss our video and audio pieces.

You can train your body into thinking it's had medicine
Jo Marchant asks if we can harness the mind to reduce side-effects and slash drug costs.
Why the calorie is broken
Calories consumed minus calories burned: it’s the simple formula for weight loss or gain. But dieters often find that it doesn’t work.
Why being bilingual keeps your brain fit
Most people in the world speak more than one language, suggesting the human brain evolved to work in multiple tongues. If so, asks Gaia Vince, are those who speak only one language missing out?

Why do we have blood types?
More than a century after their discovery, we still don’t really know what blood types are for.
How has the world's health changed in your lifetime?
Put yourself at the centre of the story in our Global Health Check interactive infographic.
This is what happens after you die
Exploring how the breakdown of our bodies after death gives birth to new life.