Shanghai widened its ban on public smoking Wednesday as China's biggest city steps up efforts to stub out the massive health threat despite conflicts of interest with the state-owned tobacco industry. 

Unborn children suffer no harm when their mothers take flu medication during pregnancy, a study of some 700,000 women said Wednesday.

From ancient Rome to modern times, mankind has suffered devastating periods of hunger caused by drought, war or misguided politics.

The U.N.'s health agency urged governments, scientists and pharma companies Monday to create new drugs to tackle 12 antibiotics-resistant supergerms threatening an explosion of incurable disease.

Smartphones are revolutionizing the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, thanks to add-ons and apps that make their ubiquitous small screens into medical devices, researchers say.

"If you look at the camera, the flash, the microphone... they all are getting better and better," said Shwetak Patel, engineering professor at the University of Washington.

People with ADHD have slightly smaller brains than those without the condition, according to a study released Thursday which insisted it is a physical disorder and not just bad behavior.

The largest analysis to date of the brains of people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder found "structural differences" and evidence of delayed development compared with non-sufferers, researchers reported.

Working outside an office may spare you from commutes and interruptions by colleagues but it also makes you more vulnerable to unpaid overtime, stress and insomnia, the UN said Wednesday. 

A new report from the United Nations International Labour Organization studied the impacts of working remotely, with technological advances continuing to revolutionise conceptions of the workplace. 

U.S. President Donald Trump's block on U.S. funds going to organizations involved in abortion care overseas could impact millions of women, Bill and Melinda Gates have warned, the Guardian reported on Tuesday.

Indian doctors put an Egyptian believed to be the world's heaviest woman on a special liquid diet Monday as they prepared her for an emergency weight-loss operation.

Ethics experts and human rights lawyers slammed the Vatican Tuesday for inviting a top Chinese health official to an organ trafficking summit despite concerns the Asian giant still uses tissue from executed prisoners.