COVER STORY

Game Changers

A new kind of video contest has serious aims, from motivating cancer patients to solving the mysteries of how proteins fold.

Mirror, Mirror

Is watching the same as doing? Both depend on a newly discovered neuron, which helps explain how humans connect.

Bypassing Diabetes

As a cure for the disease, bariatric surgery is poorly understood. But it’s so effective that it’s now being done on patients who aren’t even obese.

The War on Superbugs

As medicine battles antibiotic resistance, tougher drugs breed still more deadly bacteria. New approaches could break the cycle.

Studies in Miniature

Liquids act differently in tiny spaces, enabling lab-on-a-chip technology to transform research, drug discovery and disease diagnosis.

Message from the MGH

The remarkable benefits of interdisciplinary research, by Peter L. Slavin and David F. Torchiana.

Second Opinion

Readers discuss influenza and inflammation.

Dr. Exotica

Tending to recent immigrants and other travelers, Carlos Franco-Paredes diagnoses diseases that few other physicians in North America have ever seen.

Dirty Laundry

Grab the bleach. A typical hospital washing machine can handle 5,200 pounds of linens per hour.

Body of Evidence

When a medical study is published, many accept it as fact. But in reality, the quality of studies’ evidence can vary widely.

Of Labels and Liability

Will consumers continue to have the power to question a drug’s safety?

Drilling for a Century

The level of dental care we now enjoy dates back to the arrival of plug-in electric drills.

Constant Kidney Care

Dialysis clinics could be a thing of the past with the development of a portable, wearable device.

Dappled Danger

The beauty of a dappled steed comes at a cost to its health.

Imperiled Partners

In depression, family members are helpless spectators looking on.