Disease Sleuths Analyze Google Searches To Stop Infections
Google is sharing detailed search data with academic and public health researchers to help them fight the spread of infectious diseases. Will it work?
Medical Treatments
Cancer Treatments May Need To Be Tailored To Each Tumor
Jimmy Carter seems to have gotten the perfect drug to treat his cancer. But scientists need to understand a lot more about tumors before personalized cancer treatments are available for everyone.
Senate Questions 'Egregious' Price Hikes For Specialty Medicines
Some companies have bought the patents for old drugs, then abruptly upped the prices — from $13 per pill to $750 in one case. Irate senators call it price gouging.
Senate Hearings Investigate Rising Price Of Medications
Drug prices are a hot topic in politics. One company raised the price of a $1.50 drug to $750. Drugs to cure hepatitis C routinely cost more than $10,000 — and more for a full course of treatment.
Drug Cocktails Fuel Massachusetts' Overdose Crisis
A state analysis reveals that the majority of overdose deaths in 2014 came from heroin or prescription opioids taken in combination with cocaine, anti-anxiety medications or alcohol.
Congress Still Limits Health Research On Gun Violence
The wave of mass shootings in the U.S. is renewing a debate over treating gun violence as a public health issue. Congress has stood in the way of federal funding for studying injuries and deaths.
Marijuana Extract May Help Some Children With Epilepsy, Study Finds
The first studies of cannabidiol show promise for treatment-resistant epilepsy, but researchers caution that these are preliminary results and bigger, better studies are needed.
Is It Safe For Medical Residents To Work 30-Hour Shifts?
Young doctors being trained at dozens of hospitals around the country are being asked to work up to 30 hours straight as part of a study. Critics say the study is risky and unethical.
In Gaza, Kids With Cancer Have 'Virtually No Care.' One Group Hopes To Help
If children in the Gaza Strip need to get treatment for cancer, they face a bureaucratic morass — and a trek outside Gaza. One nonprofit hopes to fix that by building a pediatric cancer center there.
Scientists Debate How Far To Go In Editing Human Genes
The unusual meeting was called to consider a ban on certain uses of a new technique that can make precise changes in DNA. The main concern is altering genes in human sperm, eggs and embryos.