LA Times

After 10 years and $100 billion, it is poised to become a top research lab. But the shuttle's planned retirement in 2010 complicates things.

Right now, 10 Russian and American men and women orbiting 200 miles above Earth are busy installing new toilets, refrigerators and bedrooms aboard the most complicated construction project ever undertaken: the International Space Station.

The average U.S. worker faced out-of-pocket expenses of more than $1,000 this year, an annual study finds.

Employers are dramatically shifting healthcare costs onto workers, so much so that the average annual deductible for an individual surpassed $1,000 for the first time this year, according to a new study.

Kantrowitz performed the first pediatric heart transplant, developed an intra-aorta balloon pump and cultivated assist devices that helped boost circulation.

Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz, the pioneering cardiovascular surgeon who performed the first U.S. heart transplant, developed a balloon-pumping device that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives and developed mechanical heart-assist devices, died of heart failure Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich. He was 90.

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Bringing "Jurassic Park" one step closer to reality, scientists have deciphered much of the genetic code of the woolly mammoth, a feat they say could allow them to recreate the shaggy, prehistoric beast in as little as a decade or two.

HERODIUM, West Bank (AP) _ King Herod may have been buried in a crypt with lavish Roman-style wall paintings of a kind previously unseen in the Middle East, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday.

President-elect tells delegates gathered in L.A. to debate tactics for reducing planet-warming pollution that his administration will help lead way to 'a new era of global cooperation.'

President-elect Barack Obama sent an explicit message Tuesday to international negotiators of a new global warming treaty that, under his administration, the U.S would move to slash its own greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% by mid-century, and "help lead the world toward a new era of global cooperation on climate change."

Sharing tools, they continue working on a repair.

A spacewalking astronaut accidentally let go of her tool bag Tuesday after a grease gun inside it exploded, and helplessly watched as the tote and everything inside floated away.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ Taking a big hop forward in marsupial research, scientists say they have unraveled the DNA of a small kangaroo named Matilda.

A clinical trial involving people ages 75 to 96 showed no relation between taking the supplement and boosting brainpower or staving off the effects of Alzheimer's disease.

Long touted as an elixir of eternal mental acuity, the herbal extract ginkgo biloba in fact does not prevent or delay the progression of dementia or Alzheimer's disease, according to a clinical trial reported today involving thousands of volunteers between the ages of 75 and 96.

Experts say the nation's hard times may paradoxically quicken a sweeping reform of the healthcare system.

When Barack Obama steps into the Oval Office in January, healthcare reform will join a list of priorities crowded with two wars, a ballooning budget deficit and an economy mired in one of the worst slowdowns since the Great Depression.

Researchers say psychological counseling focused on stress reduction may prolong patients' lives. But experts say the results are not conclusive.

Psychological counseling, muscle relaxation and other strategies for reducing stress in breast cancer patients can cut their risk of death from the disease by more than half, according to a study published online Monday in the journal Cancer.

A scientific panel chartered by Congress cites nerve gas drug and pesticides used during the conflict as being associated with veterans' neurological problems.

A congressionally mandated scientific panel has concluded that Gulf War syndrome is real and still afflicts nearly a quarter of the 700,000 U.S. troops who served in the 1991 conflict, according to a report released Monday.

LAPD says staffers struggle to handle the workload. Missing files and poor oversight plague the crucial unit.

Late on the morning of April 14, 2006, a troubling letter rolled off the fax machine in the harried, disordered fingerprint unit of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Schwarzenegger calls for review of building standards; state officials are already at work on the issue. He also questions hospitals' emergency backup power plans.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for a review of building standards and emergency procedures Sunday after the Oakridge Mobile Home Park was devastated by the Sayre fire and a backup power system failed at a Sylmar hospital.

Dr. Janet B. Hardy, a Johns Hopkins University pediatrics professor who led a pioneering study of mothers and children that provided a wealth of information on teen pregnancy, medical concerns and social issues, died Oct. 23 at a retirement community in Glen Arm, Md. She was 92 and had had a stroke.

Two pieces of debris were spotted after launch. The astronauts are bound for the International Space Station on a home-improvement mission.

Space shuttle Endeavour's astronauts extended a 100-foot laser-tipped pole and surveyed their ship for launch damage Saturday while drawing closer to their destination, the International Space Station.

More than 600 Southland homes have been damaged or destroyed. Governor declares an emergency in L.A. County. High winds drive flames through canyons in the San Fernando Valley.

Wind-fueled fires continued to rage out of control tonight in Orange County as emergency personnel struggled to get ahead of erratic leap-frogging flare-ups that were consuming houses and apartments and prompting evacuation orders for more than 20,000 residents.

Olive View-UCLA Medical Center goes into disaster mode after its power plant fails to activate early Saturday. Twenty-seven patients are evacuated to other facilities. Power is restored by 5 a.m.

Although flames had chewed through the power lines that serve the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, staff members thought that they would be fine. The hospital prided itself on its "state-of-the-art" back-up systems.

Mandatory evacuation was ordered for areas north of the 210 freeway from Hubbard Ave. west to I-5. Live video

An explosive brush fire driven by 60-mile-per-hour gusts ripped through the northern San Fernando Valley today, burning homes before leaping both the 210 and 5 Freeways.

In effort to cut crowding at downsized facility, program suggests a system of referrals and care managers for the most frequent users.

For generations, County-USC has been seen as the hospital of last resort.