Richard Harris

People with sickle cell trait, which includes about 10 percent of African-Americans, can get erroneous readings on a common blood glucose test. That could mean they miss out on diabetes treatment.

You'd think it would be a simple matter of looking at a few genes from Mom and Dad. But scientists say they've already found more than 700 variants that affect height and are still counting.

Scanning people at risk for lung cancer finds many nodules that aren't cancerous but prompt more procedures, a study at the VA finds. A small number of people did get their cancer diagnosed early on.

Results from some key cancer studies were different when the experiments were redone in different labs. Scientists don't yet know why but say the answer could have health implications for patients.

Most patient advocacy groups get funding from the industry, a new study finds. That means they may have a conflict of interest when they are representing patients.

Most people's doctors put their health information in an electronic health record. Scientists are mining those records for clues to what treatments work best for individuals.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says pregnant women with morning sickness shouldn't reach hastily for the pill bottle. Controversy over one medicine called Diclegis continues.

But that's not the final word, caution pediatricians, including the Danish author. It's one of several recent studies with contradictory findings that suggest the supplements could help or hurt.

The federal government pays for kidney transplants. But the program only pays for essential anti-rejection drugs for three years. Many people can't afford them and can end up losing the kidney.

Mumps spreads easily through schools and colleges. And in northwestern Arkansas, where the current outbreak is centered, students often live in close quarters with their families.

Two recent studies comparing genetic cancer tests suggest that doctors need to be careful about assuming the results provide a complete picture for selecting among treatments options.

A gene-editing technology called CRISPR-cas9 could be a gold mine for its inventors, but it's not clear who owns the idea. U.S. patent judges will soon hear oral arguments to decide the issue.

The House could vote Wednesday on a vast bill that stretches nearly a thousand pages and holds changes large and small for the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.

There's a plethora of projects to gather data about the brain, various kinds of cancer and every type of cell in the body. But researchers are struggling to keep up with the information explosion.

Medical researchers are no longer ignoring the people who have the most to gain — or lose. But as patient advocates become more influential, they risk being co-opted by the biomedical industry.

The federal government spends more than $30 billion a year to fund the National Institutes of Health. How will a new administration affect academic research? What about pharmaceutical research?

People with unlucky genes but good health habits were half as likely to develop heart disease as those who had an unhealthful lifestyle and genes that increased their heart risk, a study found.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says smoking rates have fallen from 21 percent of the adult population in 2005 to 15 percent in 2015, when the agency conducted its latest survey.

Scientists are racing to create a vaccine. The latest effort being tested uses inactivated virus, a technique that has been used successfully to fight other diseases, and human volunteers.

Up until he retired as head of the National Academy of Sciences, the soft-spoken atmospheric scientist spent his career diligently directing a skeptical public to the human causes of climate change.