Researchers identify the TRPV4 ion channel as the body's internal "stop scratching" signal, offering new hope for chronic itch relief.

What’s common between a scratchy sweater, a mosquito bite, and poison ivy? A brush with any of them guarantees an itchy spot on the skin. Scratching that itch is extremely tempting because of how ...

Russell has a PhD in the history of medicine, violence, and colonialism. His research has explored topics including ethics, science governance, and medical involvement in violent contexts. Russell has ...

When normal mice were allowed to scratch, their ears became swollen and filled with inflammatory immune cells called neutrophils. In contrast, inflammation and swelling were much milder in normal mice ...

Any doctor—or parent—will warn you that scratching an itch will only make it worse. But it turns out it has a surprise ...

MINNEAPOLIS — As winter finally makes its presence felt, so does a symptom of the frigid air. Dry skin is forming and many of you might treat it in a painful, yet relieving way. Why does dry skin itch ...

What is it with the superhuman control an itch has over the mind and body? Sometimes, scratching seems like a relief worth risking it all for, especially if you have a health condition that makes you ...

When you've got an itch to scratch, sometimes your fingernails just won't do, especially if it's that annoying part of your back that you can never reach. It's times like these when you need one of ...

I remember it well: our dark winter of itch when the kids were small. It started with a note sent home—years before the pandemic—that my child had been exposed, not to a deadly virus but to lice.