By LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Howard News Service

There was a time when the signs of aging were pretty obvious. The hair got grayer or goner, the middle got wider and the pace grew slower. Middle age started in the 30s, old age in the 60s.

Writers don't like to admit it, but everyone needs a little editing now and then.
The same thing is true for our genetic code. A few jumbled letters can mix up or silence critical instructions that make a biological system work.
Much of today's medical research is geared toward finding ways to either fix or bypass such coding mistakes.

Writers don't like to admit it, but everyone needs a little editing now and then.
The same thing is true for our genetic code. A few jumbled letters can mix up or silence critical instructions that make a biological system work.
Much of today's medical research is geared toward finding ways to either fix or bypass such coding mistakes.

Dying can be expensive. Studies show up to a third of all money spent on Medicare patients each year goes toward the 5 percent of elderly and disabled enrollees who die.
Dying well can also be expensive, but usually less so if patients, their families and their doctor have honest conversations about end of life care.

If you're trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, you need to watch the company you keep along with the calories you consume, researchers are finding.
Using computer model simulations of social structures, scientists at several Colorado universities looked at how people's family and social circles can influence their weight, for bad or good.

The computer and the Internet are great healthcare tools, but they can also do a lot of medical harm.
Researchers are only beginning to appreciate how information on the Web can be used to help inform and guide patients in ways that augment, rather than replace, actual consultations with doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

Researchers are working aggressively to find ways to use our genes to guide our medical care.
While scientists have been identifying genetic markers for diseases for decades, the connections mostly make a difference only when a condition is caused by the malfunction of a single gene.

While the techniques seldom seem to fail on television, a new report to Congress says the nation's crime lab system is badly fragmented and needs to be overhauled to ensure consistent, accurate results to investigators and courts.

Sure, love stinks. But it may yet be ill-advised for a guy to present his beloved a sweaty T-shirt in lieu of flowers, perfume or a card on Valentine's Day.

Multi-vitamin supplements for kids? They're cute, they're chewable and they're parental insurance against the nagging guilt of three visits to a fast food place for dinner in the last five nights.
But if a child between the ages of 2 and 17 is healthy and eating a balanced diet, they're probably not needed.