Richard Harris

Regulators give many cancer drugs a fast track to market while requiring drugmakers to do more studies after approval. Researchers have found the follow-up studies frequently come up short.

The nonprofit Allen Institute in Seattle has produced a visualization of human cell division that promises to be useful for professional scientists and curious amateurs alike.

New cases of asthma dropped dramatically in Los Angeles communities where air quality improved the most over 20 years. The results illustrate health benefits from pollution control.

Researchers have developed a smartphone app that can help diagnose an ear infection. Parents will be able to use it at home, pending further tests and Food and Drug Administration approval.

While there are thousands of health-related apps around, one being developed at the University of Washington stands out because it uses a phone's microphone and speaker to make a a medical call.

More than 600 people will take part in study to test a promising treatment for Huntington's disease, a fatal inherited condition. The experimental drug interferes with defective genetic machinery.

Behavior and environment are big factors in a surge in obesity. Scientists are busy trying to identify the many genes that play a role in weight gain to develop a predictive obesity test.

Ethical concerns aside, the genetic ingredients for human traits are so complex that editing a few embryonic genes is unlikely to have much effect — or achieve the fantasy of enhancing humans.

Will AI in health care create a two-tiered system in which poorer people will be seen by a computer instead of a doctor? That's one concern about the burgeoning technology.

The search giant's push into artificial intelligence as a tool for health improvement is a natural evolution for a company that has developed algorithms that reach deep into our lives through the Web.

The latest advance is not only encouraging news for patients with severe combined immunodeficiency. It's a test case for all those scientists working to develop better gene therapy techniques.

Software that can replace doctors for certain tasks has a big responsibility. The Food and Drug Administration is now figuring out how to determine when computer algorithms are safe and effective.

Researchers found that antiviral drugs are effective in preventing transmission of the hepatitis C virus from donated hearts and lungs to recipients. The result could help reduce organ wait times.

It's hard for humans to check algorithms that computers devise on their own. But these artificial intelligence systems are already moving from the lab toward doctors' offices.

Artificial intelligence is now being brought to bear on mammograms and could improve the accuracy of diagnoses. But previous computerized technology to do that didn't live up to the hype.

Scientists and statisticians are putting forth a bold idea: ban the very concept of "statistical significance." A bit more humility would be in order to account for the ambiguity in the world.

Less than 10 percent of cardiovascular guidelines to help doctors are based on the most carefully conducted scientific studies. A lot of the rest are based on much flimsier evidence.

Drugmakers add inactive ingredients to stabilize medications and sometimes to help the body absorb the active ingredients. But the inactive constituents can cause side effects in rare cases.

British doctors report the apparent eradication of HIV from a patient who was undergoing treatment for cancer. It's only the second time this has been accomplished, despite many attempts.

Doctors in London say they've successfully treated an HIV patient, but the treatment is dangerous and expensive. The news comes 12 years after a different patient was declared cured of AIDS.