Honey from New Zealand gums up bacteria, offering a potential new means of combating difficult-to-treat infections. (p. 366)

Almost half of Spanish couples who were asked recently to donate excess embryos for stem cell research did so. (p. 317)

Prisoners killed by lethal injection may be conscious and experience pain and burning sensations while they asphyxiate. (p. 302)

Older women with osteoporosis who received yearly infusions of a drug that prevents bone loss had far fewer fractures than did peers who didn't get the drug. (p. 275)

Adults 65 and older who report depressive symptoms are 50 to 60 percent more likely to develop diabetes than are their peers. (p. 261)

Responding to a surge in tough-to-treat gonorrhea, the CDC has stopped recommending Cipro-class antibiotics for the disease. (p. 245)

A new influenza vaccine churned out by caterpillar cells infected with a genetically engineered virus effectively prevents the flu. (p. 227)

For the first time, researchers report drug resistance in type B influenza virus and say the drug-resistant strain may jump from person to person. (p. 213)

A new tool cools asthma by heating lung tissue to kill overgrown smooth muscle in airways, a hallmark of the disease. (p. 195)

A disproportionate number of heart disease deaths among firefighters occur during blazes. (p. 180)

Variants in a circadian-rhythm gene predict how well people perform mental tasks when sleep deprived. (p. 190)

A virulent bacterium invading U.S. hospitals and the battlefields of the Middle East pilfers its genes from other bacteria. (p. 173)