Sleeping pills: Britain’s hidden addiction

One in 10 of us now regularly take a drug to help us sleep. But is it time we stopped popping zopiclone, temazepam and other tablets? And what are the alternatives?

Scientology detox programmes: expensive and unproven

Edzard Ernst: There is no evidence Scientology's 'Purif' and 'Narconon' detox work, and the megadoses of vitamins involved may harm health

Dr Dillner’s health dilemmas: can lifting weights prevent diabetes?

It may have been fun to watch weightlifters in action during the Olympics – but doing some ourselves might be beneficial for our health

Caesarean sections result in infections for one in ten patients, study finds

NHS urged to make reduction of problem a priority as overweight and teenage mothers found to be most likely to suffer

West’s first gene therapy gets closer to market

Rare illness treatment Glybera wins European drugs regulator's approval in 'watershed moment'

How medical advances are changing the fight against HIV and Aids

As the UN reports a decline in Aids deaths and HIV infection rates, here are some of the developments at the frontline

Our Kind of People by Uzodinma Iweala – review

David Smith is disappointed by the much-feted novelist Uzodinma Iweala's non-fiction account of Aids in Africa

Mitochondria donation wins ethical approval for fertility treatments

Nuffield Council on Bioethics recommends acceptance of fertility techniques to prevent inherited mitochondria disorders

I believe exercise can help people beat depression

Despite what the research published this week says, many people who have lived with depression feel the benefits of a trip to the gym, or even a spot of gardening

‘Three-parent babies’ cure for illness raises ethical fear

Mitochondrial disease, passed from mother to child, is incurable. Scientists see a way to eliminate it using donor DNA but this has set off a debate about 'three-parent babies'