Health & Safety

With the new health care law on the horizon, the restaurant industry is looking carefully at the looming health insurance requirements. Some national chains are looking at ways of limiting the new law's impact on the bottom line, while other restaurant owners say the new law won't change much for them.

Texas is one of several states that have passed laws tightening standards for clinics and doctors who provide abortions. Proponents say the laws make the procedure safer. But abortion rights advocates say the tightened requirements are unnecessary and driven by ideology, not safety concerns.

Somalia now has the dubious distinction of having the worst polio outbreak in the world. The country had been polio-free since 2007. If this outbreak gains a foothold, health workers fear it could spread into the Middle East.

States are setting an abortion limit at 20 weeks after fertilization, but that may clash with established standards for calculating the viability of a pregnancy. It could also open the new laws up to constitutional challenges.

The research gives a glimmer of hope about the health of aging populations. But both studies were conducted in Western Europe and may not reflect trends in the American population.

The Pandoravirus is so big you can see it in an ordinary microscope. Scientists say its size may have helped fool amoebas and other potential hosts into eating it. But this virus doesn't pose a threat to humans. It's more of a Trojan virus than a surprise from Pandora's Box.

This summer was supposed to be a time for the Obama administration to reintroduce the public to the Affordable Care Act and teach people how to sign up for benefits this fall. But despite another White House speech, that's not happening. And an expert in political messaging thinks he knows why.

The number of babies born with the life-threatening disease will climb by a third in the next 40 years, scientists say. The vast majority of sickle cell cases will occur in developing countries, which don't have the resources to treat deadly complications arising from the genetic disorder.

The new co-host for TV chatfest The View is a vivacious and outspoken model, actor and activist for children, seemingly a perfect person to have at the table of the successful network talk show. But Jenny McCarthy is also one of the nation's leading skeptics about the safety of childhood vaccines.