The federal government on Thursday announced sweeping new rules for electronic cigarettes that will for the first time require the devices and their ingredients to be reviewed, a mandate that could offer some protection for consumers and upend a multibillion dollar industry that has gone largely unregulated. Before brands are… Read More

Getting stitched up by Dr. Robot may one day be reality: Scientists have created a robotic system that did just that in living animals without a real doctor pulling the strings. Much like engineers are designing self-driving cars, Wednesday’s research is part of a move toward autonomous surgical robots, removing… Read More

New lab techniques have provided the first good look at a crucial but mysterious stage in the development of human embryos, scientists reported Wednesday. The researchers said follow-up research might eventually lead to new treatments for infertility and perhaps new forms of birth control. The work extends the amount of… Read More

The Connecticut woman who underwent a face transplant five years ago after being attacked by a chimpanzee is back in a Boston hospital after doctors discovered her body is rejecting the transplant. Charla Nash had been taking part in an experiment in which doctors at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital… Read More

A Pasco, Washington, company has expanded its recall of frozen vegetables linked to a listeria outbreak that has sickened eight people. One person from Maryland and one from Washington have died but health officials do not consider listeria to be the cause of death for either person. The Centers for… Read More

Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay $55 million to a woman who claims its talcum powder caused her ovarian cancer, the second such judgment against the manufacturer in three months. The ruling in St. Louis late Monday comes amid ongoing debate about the link between the bathroom staple… Read More

Playground concussions are on the rise, according to a new government study, and monkey bars and swings are most often involved. Most injuries studied were mild, but all concussions are potentially serious and the researchers say the trend raises public health and safety concerns. The federal Centers for Disease Control… Read More

Insurers will seek significant premium hikes under President Barack Obama’s health care law this summer – stiff medicine for consumers and voters ahead of the national political conventions. Expect the state-by-state premium requests to reflect what insurers see as the bottom line: The health law has been a financial drain… Read More

Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. has agreed to pay nearly $785 million to resolve allegations that one of its companies failed to give Medicaid the same discounts it provided to private purchasers of a heartburn treatment, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday. The tentative deal that resolves allegations filed by two whistleblowers was first… Read More