Jodi Hilton for NPR
Sam and John Fetters, 19, are identical twins on different ends of the autism spectrum. Sam is a sophomore at Amherst College and runs marathons in his free time. John attends a school for people with special needs and loves to watch Sesame Street in his free time. Identical twins like Sam and John pose an important question for scientists: How can a disorder that is known to be highly genetic look so different in siblings who share the same genome? Check out more of NPR's series on the Science of Siblings.More science questions? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
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Joel Saget
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AFP via Getty Images
SPECIAL COVERAGE
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See the latest news and information about COVID-19 and its impact on the Charlotte region, the Carolinas and beyond. -
Americans spend more on medical care than those in other wealthy countries, but we’re a lot sicker. The Price We Pay will explore the reasons for that and possible solutions to our health care crisis.
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Federal health officials say the U.S. has the building blocks to make a vaccine to protect humans from bird flu, if needed. But experts warn we're nowhere near prepared for another pandemic. -
Officially, only one person has caught the illness during the current outbreak. But with limited testing, cases could be flying under the radar. -
Federal regulators, medical experts and safe-sleep advocates have warned of the potential danger of weighted infant sleepwear, but manufacturers say their products have helped millions of families. -
Women under 60 can benefit from hormone therapy to treat hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause. That's according to a new study, and is a departure from what women were told in the past. -
The time a person has to decide whether to have an abortion in Florida and other states with six-week abortion bans is at most two weeks. Why? It has to do with how we date early pregnancy. -
Florida has been a major access point for abortion in the South. Now its residents, along with thousands more in the region, will have to seek abortion care elsewhere after six weeks of pregnancy. -
A rise in breast cancer among younger women prompted the U.S. Preventive Task Force to issue new screening guidelines. They recommend mammograms every other year, starting at age 40. -
Agreeing to an out-of-network doctor's financial policy, which protects their ability to get paid and may be littered with confusing jargon, can create a binding contract that leaves a patient owing. -
The federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled in favor of transgender patients on Monday. The case was brought by Medicaid recipients in West Virginia and state employees in North Carolina. -
Under a related deal, users who return devices by Aug. 9 can get an extra $100. As part of the recall, the company is offering repairs, replacements or refunds of the machines' cost. -
CBD, hemp and other products that contain the active ingredient from marijuana are sold in North Carolina with few regulations. An effort in the state legislature aims to change that. -
Although HIV transmission from contaminated blood through unsterile injection is a well-known risk, the CDC said this is the first documentation of probable infections involving cosmetic services.
