Spending more time in the dark could boost hearing in old age

Dana Smith: Hope for non-invasive treatment for age-related deafness as scientists find neurons can compensate for disability at any age

True free market proponents should support private-public competition

Dean Baker: The debate is often presented as between people who like the government and people who like the market. It isn't

AOL’s Tim Armstrong couldn’t be more wrong about ‘distressed babies’

Janet Sheaffer Pickel: My twins were born prematurely and cost millions to treat, but you can't put a price on human life. I'm glad I didn't work at AOL

CVS stores will no longer sell cigarettes. It’s the health over profit revolution

Nicholas Freudenberg: First thoughts: The decision to cut tobacco products shows that advocates and public opinion can swing the profit-loss calculus in favour of health

Let them eat cake for breakfast? The latest fad in dieting

Emma Brockes: How we consume is a measure of our wider fears and securities. What does the Marie Antoinette Diet tell us about ourselves?

Move over quinoa, Ethiopia’s teff poised to be next big super grain

Rich in calcium, iron and protein, gluten-free teff offers Ethiopia the promise of new and lucrative markets in the west. Claire Provost and Elissa Jobson investigate

The latest health issue for the elderly: ‘observation purgatory’ in hospitals

June McKoy: Medicare's payment policies are incentivising hospitals to mark seniors as observations instead of admissions. It can be deadly

Open-plan offices were devised by Satan in the deepest caverns of hell

Oliver Burkeman: They’re bad for concentration, motivation, stress – and they don’t even make it easier for employees to communicate, new research indicates

Health insurers bemoan Obamacare ‘fix’ as adding confusion to rollout

President meets top insurers a day after announcing they could continue offering policies that fall short of new standards

I am a former escort. Trust me, criminalising prostitution doesn’t help

Matthew Lawrence: Rhode Island and rural Nevada used to offer protections for adult sex workers. Now it's illegal in RI and more dangerous for all