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October 11, 2012 A sample of saliva taken from a coffee cup can reveal someone's genes, for better and for worse. Now bioethicists are recommending privacy protections as the age of cheap, fast genome sequences unfolds.

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October 10, 2012 The sickest heart attack patients in states that report publicly on quality may get less treatment than those in states that don't. Public reporting is supposed to help patients shop intelligently for health care. But do doctors and hospitals game the quality systems?

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October 9, 2012 Weight loss surgeries are growing in popularity, but many patients still want to dine at restaurants after their procedure. Surgeons who perform the surgery distribute special cards that allow the patients to get smaller portions or discounted prices. But could this halt their weight loss?

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October 9, 2012 The National Health Service is providing care for short-term travelers. So if you're on holiday and run out of an HIV drug, the NHS will help out, gratis. But if you're thinking of going for a long time to get free care, you're probably out of luck.

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October 8, 2012 John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka discovered that every cell in our body — from skin and heart to brain and lung — can reinvent itself and become any other cell type. These stem cells have vast potential for drug development, for many diseases, like Alzheimer's, muscular dystrophy and diabetes.

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October 7, 2012 Spinal Elements, a small and growing company, had long made plates, screws and other technology used in spinal surgeries. But its new Hero Allograft was the first product it ever made from the tissue — in this case the bones — of a donated human cadaver.

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October 5, 2012 At first it seemed likely that the two known cases of illness from the new cousin-of-SARS virus may have been exposed in or near the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. But now it's pretty certain that a 49-year-old Qatari man who had traveled to Jeddah last month didn't pick up the virus there after all.

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October 5, 2012 Scientists have been using whole genome sequencing for over a decade, but it has yet to become a routine tool in the clinic. Two separate research groups showed progress in making diagnoses using in-depth genome analysis.

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October 4, 2012 A few years ago, scientists discovered that the club drug ketamine worked as a quick and effective treatment for people depression who didn't respond to other treatments. New research goes further in explaining just how it works.

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