A clearer view of a changing world.
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Evidence-based coverage of medicine, public health and care.
Sequencing a genome costs less than a night in a hospital. Turning that information into better treatment has proved far harder than the price curve suggested.
The Daily Edition · 2 min read
Two approved antibodies slow decline modestly in early disease. Blood tests can detect the pathology. Neither is a cure, and the question of what the disease fundamentally is remains open.
2 min read
An industry sells longevity. Science has a shorter, duller list: move, sleep, do not smoke, keep blood pressure down, stay connected. What the research actually supports, and what it does not.
2 min read
Modern medicine can image every organ and sequence every gene, and millions of people still wait years for a name for what is wrong with them. The reasons are as much about how medicine is organized as about biology.
2 min read
Between a result in a laboratory and a treatment in a clinic lie a decade, a billion dollars and a failure rate above ninety percent. Understanding the path explains why so many breakthroughs never arrive.
2 min read
Clusters of cases in several regions prompted a coordinated campaign, in this illustrative scenario, aimed at children who missed routine doses.
Health