Alan Schwarz

In 2007, a New York Times reporter brought national attention to NFL concussions with a front-page story about a Philadelphia Eagles player. But the story didn't stop there. 

New CDC data analyzed by the Times show a 53% increase in ADHD diagnosis over the last decade. Now 11% of US children have been diagnosed. Alan Schwarz, health reporter for the New York Times discusses and takes calls.

John Branch, New York Times sports reporter and author of the three-part series “Punched Out: The Life and Death of a Hockey Enforcer,” about Derek Boogaard, a professional hockey player; Alan Schwarz, New York Times education reporter and formerly a sports reporter whose coverage of concussions in sports was nominated for a Pulitzer prize; and Dr. Robert Cantu, neurosurgeon and co-director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine, discussing the link between contact sports, concussions, and degenerative brain conditions.

In answers to readers, the secretary of education says the nine-month school calendar made more sense in the agrarian economy, that parents should make sure that their child see no cr...

UPDATED -- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan used a visit to Cleveland today to again bash the No Child Left Behind law. 'It was bad for children, bad for education, bad for st...

For 71 years, Lou Gehrig has been the face of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, now most commonly known as "Lou Gehrig’s disease."

After getting the diagnosis of a disease that would quickly rob him of his muscle strength and control, Gehrig retired from baseball. At a ceremony honoring him at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, his voice full of emotion, he said, "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth. That I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for. Thank you." He died just two years later of the disease that now bears his name.

Now new research suggests that there is a possibility Lou Gehrig may not have had "Lou Gehrig’s disease," but perhaps something closely related.  

The House Judiciary Committee is holding hearings about the long-term cognitive damage suffered by NFL players as a result of concussions they suffered on the football field. We speak...