The Science of Health: Curing the Common Cold; January 2011; Scientific American Magazine; by Veronique Greenwood; 2 Page(s)

Who has not dreamed of a cure for the common cold? It might be a pill that banishes the sniffles, to be taken as soon as you notice the symptoms. Or better yet, a vaccine administered before kindergarten, along with those for measles and mumps. Imagine a world without colds—without weeks of wet Kleenex and phlegmy avalanches in your sinuses. It sounds pretty perfect.

Scientists, in fact, are working toward a vaccine against rhinoviruses—the group that causes 30 to 50 percent of colds. But, ironically, even if it succeeds or if drugs that stop colds in their tracks are found, we may well decide that most of us are better off without these wonder drugs, after all.