COVER STORY

To Grow Hairy

When puberty strikes the result is sudden and profound. The path, only now being traced, begins deep within the brain.

The Addicted Brain

Addiction significantly alters the brain, drawing drug users into its irresistible chemistry. Treatment, then, can't block the high.

The Quest for Quality

Pay for performance seems simple: Give doctors financial incentives to improve care. So what's taking so long?

The Anatomy Theater

A cadaver, an anatomist and a press of onlookers in a sixteenth century engraving inspire a twenty-first century verse.

Slime and the City

Biofilms are microbial metropolises: teeming, diverse and, when attached to surgical implants, nearly impossible to subdue.

Message from the MGH

In its second year, Proto ponders and probes new and intriguing medicine by Peter L. Slavin and David F. Torchiana.

Second Opinion

On vague nerve stimulation and autism.

No Regrets

Bioresorbable ink could be the answer for those regretting tattoos.

Extreme Doctoring

A doctor discusses the promise and problems of advanced medical technology in places as far-flung as Bhutan and Mars.

Critical Condition

1,440 is the average number of ambulances each day turned away from an ER at maximum capacity.

Health Coverage For All

On the Massachusetts plan to require that everyone be insured.

For Caregivers, Heavy Cares

Medical bloggers discuss their fears and worries.

Blood Feud

Two studies aimed at gauging the effectiveness of blood substitutes in helping trauma victims spark controversy with the FDA.

No Sponge Left Behind

During surgery, dozens of sponges are placed in the body. One company wants to ensure that they all make it out.

Music in the OR

Surgeons report on which songs help them get pumped in the operating room.

New Tech for the Developing World

Frustrated aid workers in remote parts of the world could benefit from these technologies.

Avian Flu, One Year Later

After the panic, the author of our article on avian flu discusses developments in the story.

Mixed Signals

Early births, an on/off switch for pain and navigating a rat’s memory.

An Aural Art

It took a head-on collision to come up with the stethoscope.

I Want to Stay Right Here

A photographer examines the lives of adults who care for their parents.