Can knowing you and your family may get Alzheimer’s ever be positive?

Researchers studying the genetic transmission of early onset Alzheimer’s hope their work will result in new treatments that will help people such as Sophie Leggett, whose mother and aunt both developed the disease

‘What’s a uterus?’ Health illiteracy could be the death of us

As a doctor I meet women who believe gynaecological cancer can be caused by promiscuity, and people who don’t know how to take their pills. Education is the remedy

Mediterranean diet ‘as effective as statins’ in reducing heart attack risk

Leading doctors call on medical bodies such as Nice to do more to promote healthy lifestyles rather than relying on cardiovascular drugs

The politics of laser eye surgery

In the spirit of self-experimentation (and perhaps a mid-life crisis), Jack Stilgoe bravely gets his eyes lasered.

Sleep shortage increases susceptibility to catching a cold, study finds

Tests on men and women reveal those who sleep six hours or less a night are more than four times as likely to contract virus than those resting for seven or more hours

Oliver Sacks obituary

Neurologist and writer best known for his books The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Awakenings

Overexposed: the sun damage that can lead to skin cancer – and how to treat it

Despite the warnings, many of us still overdo it in the summer sun. Here are the main types of skin damage to watch for and what to do about them

Prostate cancer twice as likely to kill black men as white men, study finds

Researchers say study suggests need to target black men for screening of prostate cancer, which is projected to become the UK’s most common cancer by 2030

Cancer breakthroughs trigger big pharma interest in drugs and deals

Companies are scrambling to get into the immunotherapy market, which experts think could eventually be worth up to £26bn a year in sales

Food industry ‘responsibility deal’ has little effect on health, study finds

Firms agreed to make their products healthier, for example by reducing amounts of salt, but few have done so, researchers say