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Why so much medical care is years out of date – and how to fix it

3 July 2023

It can take nearly two decades to update practices in healthcare. Closing this gap is the challenge of our time, says implementation scientist Rinad Beidas

Why expanding access to Narcan in the US won’t solve the opioid crisis

14 April 2023

The US has made a medication that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses available without prescription – it will no doubt prevent some deaths, but it’s not enough to tackle the opioid epidemic

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 17: A statue of J. Marion Sims, a surgeon celebrated by many as the father of modern gynecology, is driven away in a Parks Department truck after being taken down from its pedestal at Central Park and East 103rd Street on April 17, 2018 in New York City. A New York City panel decided to move the controversial statue after groups demanded its removal as many of Sims medical breakthroughs came from experimenting on black slaves without anesthesia. The statue will be relocated in Green-Wood Cemetery in Windsor Terrace, where Sims is buried. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Divided review: Why we must eliminate racism from Western healthcare

5 April 2023

A legacy of racism in Western medicine means healthcare is badly in need of decolonising. Annabel Sowemimo's book sets out why

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Genome technology is transforming healthcare but what should we allow?

15 March 2023

From mice with two fathers to cures for debilitating diseases, the transformative power of genomic technology requires some big decisions on what we want to do with it

US proposes to ease blood donor restrictions on gay and bisexual men

30 January 2023

The US Food and Drug Administration has proposed changing the screening process for blood donations so that they measure an individual's risk, rather than exclude people based on their sexual orientation or gender

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US hospitals are facing critically low supplies of liquid ibuprofen

27 January 2023

In response to a shortage of liquid ibuprofen, the US Food and Drug Administration is temporarily allowing manufacturers to produce and distribute non-FDA approved drugs for relieving fever and pain

A laptop sits on a desk, opened to the homepage for the search engine Google. A person's hands enter from the left, with one hand's fingers placed on the laptop's keyboard.

Google's AI is best yet at answering medical and health questions

20 January 2023

Google has built an AI that can answer medical questions. However, it's not as good as a human doctor and the company says it cannot yet perform safely in the real world

Pro-choice protesters in Texas on 1 September

Will the Texas abortion ban spread across the US?

6 September 2021

One of the most extreme abortion laws in the US went into effect on 1 September in Texas. What does it say, and could this type of law be passed in other US states?

New Scientist all-day virtual event: What is the future of healthcare?

7 July 2021

New Scientist's virtual live event transported the audience to the future of healthcare, from microrobot surgery to VR diagnosis and psychedelic therapy