Tegan Taylor

Smart people are getting caught out on private health insurance — so do they need to be more savvy, or does the system need to change? 

Our digital world is increasingly reliant on voice-activated technology. Deaf people risk being left behind, so a project is developing an Auslan-speaking virtual assistant named Zelda.

A clinical trial kept donated hearts viable between donor and recipient for nearly nine hours — almost double the current gold standard.

Michelle feels in control of her drinking — after all, she only has a few wines each night. But will that change when she sees the silent damage most of us don't know about?

America's top infectious diseases expert acknowledges the differences between how his country and Australia managed the outbreak of coronavirus — and has some lessons for us on our vaccine rollout.

Researchers have identified the seafoods that are most likely to contribute microplastics to the Australian diet — but we still don't know what effect, if any, the tiny particles have on human health.

An investigation into the large number of Victorian healthcare workers who caught COVID-19 at work identifies some of the key factors that allowed so many to get infected — and what we can do to avoid a similar outbreak in the future.

Mention depression and gut issues and many women with endometriosis will start nodding furiously. Now, scientists have discovered a genetic link between the three conditions.

Drug company Pfizer announces that its COVID-19 vaccine may be 90 per cent effective in stopping the virus — but it's not at the finish line yet. Here are five things you need to know about this announcement.

Cochlear implants can be a life-changing tool for people with hearing loss — but they're not perfect. Now, a biomedical engineer has come up with a new approach to testing improvements to the bionic ears so it is easier to tailor them to an individual's ability to hear noise.

To people who are tuned in to health research, a carnivorous diet seems ... iffy. But let's say you did follow it. Would it be possible to get everything you need from it? And how new is this idea really?

Regular exercise helps you live longer, right? And vigorous exercise is particularly good for you, isn't it? A big study of older people, thought to be the first of its kind, has been trying to tease out the answer.

People who were overweight or obese who followed a Mediterranean-style diet were less likely to die from any cause than people in the "normal" weight range who didn't, a large, long-term study finds.

A vaccine has long been touted as our way out of this global coronavirus pandemic. What have previous vaccination campaigns looked like in Australia, and how might things go this time around?

Just over 100 years ago, an influenza infected a third of the world's population — but within just three years, the threat of this deadly flu had all but passed. So what changed — and how will the pandemic we're currently living through change?

Research is revealing why it takes some people so long to get their sense of smell back after COVID-19 — and they say it might even be a useful, non-invasive screening tool.

Several COVID-19 vaccine candidates are facing the last big hurdle before they could be available to the public. But previous vaccines have taken years to develop, so why are these ready so quickly, and will they be safe?

You may have seen headlines popping up during the pandemic that SARS-CoV-2 has split into "strains" that are more contagious, more virulent or even easier to vaccinate against. The reality is a little less cut and dried.

The head of the World Health Organization has warned we may never get a silver bullet for COVID-19. Health experts say this was the wake-up call we needed because we can't put all our eggs in one basket. So what are the other baskets?

Anecdotes are emerging of people who have recovered from COVID-19 but have strange, ongoing symptoms such as prolonged fatigue, breathlessness, brain fog and digestive symptoms. What does the evidence tell us about these longer-term effects of the virus?

The epicentre of Australia's COVID-19 outbreak, Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, is coming up on three weeks into lockdown but new case numbers remain stubbornly high. Why hasn't lockdown brought case numbers down more dramatically?

Six months ago, health reporter Tegan Taylor pitched a story about a mystery pneumonia in China. Now she reflects on what we didn't know in January — and what we might learn before 2020 is over.

Asking yourself a few uncomfortable questions can help identify if you need to rethink your relationship with alcohol.

We've had success containing the coronavirus so far but now Victoria — and Australia — are teetering on a precipice. Dr Norman Swan and Tegan Taylor take a look both ways.

When the Victorian Premier announced a fresh six weeks of lockdown for Melbourne and surrounds, he described the situation as a "more precarious, challenging and potentially tragic position than we were at some months ago". The reason for this can be summed up in two words.