LA Times

Harvard study may ultimately shift treatment options for a variety of diseases away from stem cells.

Injecting a cocktail of proteins directly into the bodies of diabetic mice, researchers have converted normal pancreas cells into insulin-producing cells -- a genetic transformation that could pave the way for treating intractable diseases and injuries using a patient's own supply of healthy tissue.

College presidents are wrong. Data clearly show the damage done by letting 18- to 20 year-olds drink.

Awell-intentioned but misguided group of college and university presidents has been in the news recently for suggesting that we revisit the drinking age and asserting that 21 "is not working." Called the Amethyst Initiative, their proposal would have received a failing grade in my sociology classroom for its faulty logic and how unmindful it is of the history of alcohol policy in this country.

California Senate moves to clamp hospital files shut following breaches of celebrities' confidential files.

Alarmed by breaches in which UCLA Medical Center employees snooped in the confidential records of celebrities including Britney Spears, Farrah Fawcett and California First Lady Maria Shriver, state lawmakers moved Tuesday to clamp hospital files shut with new oversight and stiffer penalties.

Dr. Thomas H. Weller, the Harvard virologist who shared the 1954 Nobel Prize in medicine for developing techniques to grow the polio virus in the laboratory, a feat that laid the groundwork for the development of the polio vaccine and the feared virus' near-eradication from the world, died in his sleep Saturday at his home in Needham, Mass. He was 93.

Lead, mercury and arsenic were found in the traditionally Indian herbal mixtures at levels that would surpass California safety guidelines, says a researcher who is calling for FDA curbs.

Ayurvedic medicines -- herbal mixtures dating back thousands of years in India and increasingly popular in the West -- are frequently contaminated with lead, mercury or arsenic, according to a study published today.

The Census Bureau says the 2007 decrease is mostly due to expanded government coverage for children.

Thanks mostly to expanded government health coverage for children, the number of people without health insurance fell in 2007 for the first time since President Bush took office, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday.

Jerry Brown outlines steps to help patients and dispensaries stay within the law, help police know when to step in and, it's hoped, keep the federal government at bay.

For the first time in the dozen years of turmoil since state voters legalized medical marijuana, California's top law enforcement official stepped into the fray Monday with new guidelines designed in part to quell the ongoing friction between the state and federal authorities.

The 72-year-old from Buena Park had a serious neurological form of the disease, which an Orange County Health Care Agency spokesman said she likely contracted from a mosquito bite.

A 72-year-old Buena Park woman became the first person in California to die from the West Nile virus infection this year, the Orange County Health Care Agency reported Monday.

Satellite images show that cattle tend to point north and south when grazing and resting.

Birds do it, bees do it, and so, apparently, do . . . cows?

A gym in Portland, Ore., will use exercise equipment to generate renewable energy.

As Adam Boesel pedals an exercise bike, he sends power to a generator that converts his workout calories into electricity. Across the room in his small eco-friendly gym are half a dozen energy-efficient treadmills. On the roof, solar arrays gather more natural energy.

Half of young Indians are malnourished. In a nation seen as a rising power, combating the problem 'has not been a policy priority . . . for the last 40 years,' a U.N. expert says.

Sitting in the basket of a hanging scale, 20-month-old Deep Kumar epitomizes the silent but monumental crisis gripping this country: The needle stops at 14 pounds.

Increased premiums for low-income families are expected to put the program out of reach for many. A new Medi-Cal policy is also expected to cut enrollees, further weakening the healthcare system.

California's promising strides toward extending medical coverage to all its children, a longtime goal of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and one advocates believed was in reach by decade's end, has stalled -- and thousands of kids are in danger of losing insurance.

Is He Kexin 16 or 14? Doctors and forensics experts say bone growth could reveal how old the Olympic medalists really are.

How do you tell the age of a Chinese gymnast?

The unmanned experimental vehicle carrying a pair of research satellites veered from its intended path shortly after liftoff.

Rocket that went astray is destroyed

Unable to find a buyer, the facility files for financial liquidation. It will close its emergency room and discharge or transfer patients.

Financially troubled Century City Doctors Hospital gave up hope of finding a buyer and began shutting down Friday, according to hospital executives. Officially, the facility said it would cease operations late next week.

Study uses mirrors to show the birds join humans, chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants on a short list of beings that can identify themselves.

Babies love mirrors. But not until they approach the age of 2 do toddlers make the connection between the baby in the mirror and themselves. Recognizing ourselves in a mirror is one of the traits that make humans, well, human.

A scientist predicts the disintegration of a major part of the Northern Hemisphere's biggest floating glacier within a year. But is it normal stress or a sign of climate change?

In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major glacier, scientists said Thursday.

Environmentalists say more are drowning in search of stable ice.

Federal wildlife monitors spotted nine polar bears in one day swimming in open ocean off Alaska's northwest coast, and environmental groups say the event is a strong signal that diminished sea ice brought on by warming has put U.S. bears at risk of drowning or dying from effects of fatigue.

'It's an excellent hospital,' celebrity physician says of Pasadena facility where three patients died unexpectedly and one was raped.

Celebrity physician Drew Pinsky on Thursday defended a Pasadena psychiatric hospital that has come under scrutiny for the unexpected deaths of three patients and the rape of a teenage girl in the last five months.

Stem cells, evolution, climate change -- some talking points for the candidates.

Our next president is certain to be very smart, but probably not scientist smart. Deep down, both Barack Obama and John McCain know this. That's because sometime in high school, each surely got frustrated by physics or calculus and said to himself, "You know, I really enjoy history."