A new heart, a new era

Forty years ago this week a team of American surgeons was on the brink of performing the first human heart transplant. But it was a South African doctor with only sketchy research behind him who finally made medical history. Donald McRae explains how Christiaan Barnard stole the race from his rivals.

Questions of life and death

Roy Hattersley: The rational approach to the abortion debate starts by asking when independent life begins.

Zapper ‘brings migraine relief’

Millions of people who suffer from migraines may soon be able to banish the pain by holding an electronic “zapper” to the back of their head. A US study has found that patients who use it experience considerable relief. Neurology … Continue reading →

Is it all right to sunbathe when you’re pregnant?

Laura Barton: Sunbathing is foolish for anyone. For pregnant women, who have a higher body temperature, it is perhaps a smidgen more foolish: the sun will increase the core temperature of the mother, which will in turn increase the temperature of the foetus.

Operation removes baby’s third arm

Surgeons today said they had successfully removed an extremely rare, well-developed third arm from a two-month-old Chinese boy. Jie-jie was born with two left arms and doctors took off the one that had lain across his chest. But the chief … Continue reading →