COVER STORY

Museum Pieces

Drug availability is getting worse, with essential medicines often impossible to obtain. What will it take to fix the system?

Organ of Change

Though routinely discarded, the placenta has a rich story to tell, full of information about fetal development and future health.

More Than Hand-Holding

Palliative care—just easing pain and boosting spirits—help very ill patients live better. Now it turns out to let them live longer, too.

The Injured Brain

It can be as resilient as it is vulnerable, recovering from the most devastating wounds. Researchers are only beginning to understand how.

Time to Regroup

Can doctors and hospitals collaborate to improve quality and limit costs? The accountable care organization may be their last, best chance.

Treating the Whole Patient

Peter L. Slavin and David F. Torchiana explain how focusing on more than just curing a disease can greatly improve a person's quality of life.

Second Opinion

Proto readers tout metabolomics, advocate residency hour restrictions and describe an intriguing personal connection to a past story.

A Firewalker's Heart

Researchers found that a stroll over hot coals affects not just the person doing it, but the loved ones looking on as well.

When Social Ills Become Medical

To better treat her young patients, pediatrician Nadine Burke uses research on how adverse childhood experiences affect health.

Sleep, Interrupted

Repeatedly waking up costs sufferers not only a good night's rest, but their health and money as well.

The Genome’s Dark Matter

From architecture to function, the ENCODE project’s researchers are filling in the gaps in our understanding of human genetics.

The Ethical Investigator

In 1966, the anaesthetist-in-chief of Massachusetts General Hospital would publish a paper that would yield greater protection for clinical trial subjects.

Facing the Pain

A father and son fight through the pain of multiple surgeries to repair the boy's skull.