Make-believe medicine

Do placebos work? New research suggests they work surprisingly well - in fact rather better than some conventional drugs. By Jerome Burne.

Obesity linked to TVs in toddlers’ bedrooms

The first research into TV and pre-school obesity blames the growing practice of giving toddlers their own bedroom TVs.

Africa declares war on its invisible scourge

Ambitious plan to end centuries of poverty by killing off the tsetse fly.

Salts cut death in pregnancy

A cheap and simple treatment can halve the chances of women developing a dangerous complication of pregnancy which kills more than 50,000 mothers and their unborn babies a year worldwide.

Diet industry will be winner in battle of the bulge as Europe goes to fat

A tide of obesity will sweep Europe over the next four years and cause a boom in the diet industry as consumers try to get back into shape, market analysts said yesterday.

Nature’s pharmacy

It's an ancient Indian cure-all recently patented in the US to treat AIDS. Andrew Purvis on the neem tree.

Infertility alert for thin women

Catwalk chic has created a passion for skinniness - but a new study reveals over-zealous dieting can permanently switch off the hormones that make pregnancy possible.