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How should clinical trials be improved? Ken Getz, who launched the Center for Information & Study on Clinical Research, has been thinking up answers to this question for two decades. Cassandra Willyard asked Getz for his thoughts on trial recruitment, financial conflicts of interest and keeping trial participants safe.

The bacterium that causes stomach ulcers and deadly gastric cancer, Helicobacter pylori, is disappearing in many developed countries. Many physicians see this as cause for celebration. But at least one researcher thinks the bacterium is more than just a pathogen. Cassandra Willyard investigates whether H. pylori may be preventing diseases as well as causing them.

For most people, a single bite from a parasite-infected tsetse fly can trigger a slow, agonizing and sometimes fatal disease known as African sleeping sickness. But new research shows that some people, as well as baboons and other great apes, are naturally resistant to infection. Cassandra Willyard awakens to the possibility of using existing immunity to engineer new therapies and transgenic livestock.

More girls are hitting puberty at eight or earlier. Researchers are exploring the causes, the consequences and what should be done.

Recent successes are reinvigorating research into a vaccine for HIV, reports Cassandra Willyard.

Yifat Merbl is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025.

Avian influenza is devastating poultry operations, spreading in dairy cattle and infecting farm workers. Why isn’t the United States doing more to stop it?

The disease is often caught too late to affect a person’s prognosis — scientists are looking to change that.

International collaborations are common in science. But some researchers go one step further, holding formal appointments in two (or more) countries—in some cases, on opposite sides of the globe. Cassandra Willyard examines what researchers have to gain from such far-flung arrangements.

The epigenome consists of a system of chemical tags that attach to our DNA and its associated molecules, switching genes on and off. But the system is not without glitches—and scientists think that the misplacement of these tags can cause disease. This idea has led to new drugs that aim to correct gene activity (and obliterate disease) by altering the proteins around which DNA winds. Cassandra Willyard examines whether this approach will unlock the long-awaited promise of epigenetic therapy.

The murder of ten aid workers, including an optometrist and a surgeon, in Afghanistan last month refocused the world's attention on the difficulties of providing health care in conflict zones. Beyond the dangers of delivering acute care such as surgery, dispensing medicines for chronic illnesses ranging from HIV to diabetes remains a challenge in areas affected by war. Cassandra Willyard looks at the lessons relief agencies have learned in recent years providing care amidst increasingly complex conflicts.

No single strategy alone is likely to thwart HIV's spread. Researchers are turning to 'prevention packages' of two or more approaches, Cassandra Willyard reports.

The only vaccine ever approved to protect against Lyme disease was pulled off the market in 2002, and drugmakers have yet to offer an alternative. What's taking so long? Cassandra Willyard investigates.

What makes some people more prone to depression and less likely to respond to the medicines that can treat it? Comparing the genetic makeup of thousands of people is uncovering some answers, reports Cassandra Willyard.

For many years, epidemiologists have linked sleep deprivation to poor health. Now, even as the average amount of shuteye people get continues to diminish, new evidence from biological research helps explain how missing out on sleep might contribute to obesity and diabetes. Cassandra Willyard asks what happens when we ignore the sandman.

The long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have created greater awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition in which people relive the agony of past events over and over again. Preliminary evidence has hinted that medicines currently used to treat high blood pressure or to terminate pregnancy might help treat PTSD by erasing painful memories. Cassandra Willyard looks at whether repurposing these drugs will work or whether experimental compounds being tested in rats might offer a more promising solution.

Intellectual property isn't something you can see or touch. Yet some companies are trying to sell medical patents the same way antiques dealers sell ancient coins or fine art—at live auctions. Will this new model work? Cassandra Willyard explores the weird world of intellectual property auctions.

Researchers are enrolling thousands of participants around the world in clinical trials in a massive effort to test whether a once-daily pill can prevent HIV. Cassandra Willyard explores why they are optimistic the strategy will work and why it might be difficult to implement.

This month, athletes from all over the world will gather in Beijing to compete for the gold. Some will win, some will lose and some will undoubtedly get injured. Cassandra Willyard explores the advances in biomedical research that might help get injured athletes back on the field faster in the future.

Lab-made organoids that mimic reproductive tissues could point to treatments for common conditions such as pre-eclampsia and endometriosis.

A new generation of Alzheimer’s blood tests could speed up diagnosis and access to care—but they also raise thorny questions about prediction, treatment and uncertainty.

A trail-blazing astronomer, a climate revolutionary and a transplant pioneer are some of the people behind this year’s big stories.

Emerging treatments for achondroplasia pose difficult choices for parents. Proponents say they are changing lives. Others fear they will feed stigma and erase identity.

Kits sold directly to consumers to check a variety of health metrics provide little value when it comes to guiding health decisions.

Manufacturing CAR T cells in the laboratory is expensive and time-consuming. An in vivo approach could get the powerful therapy to more people.

Venomous snakes kill tens of thousands of people each year. Treatments that are simpler to administer and more effective than conventional antivenom could curb this number.

New formulas, devices and tools are removing historical bias from medical diagnoses.

The people who should benefit from research are increasingly shaping how it’s done.

Immunologist Robert Seder and malaria epidemiologist Kassoum Kayentao talk to Nature about their work and how they think the parasitic disease could be controlled in the future.

Genetic analysis can sometimes prove innocence, but never guilt.

RNA dynamic duo curbs infection in mice.

Immunologists have raced to work out how to protect against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2. Their research has yielded a wealth of insights and a few surprises.

In low- and middle-income nations, snakebite envenoming is more deadly than almost any other neglected tropical disease.

Black people are more likely to develop multiple myeloma and to die from it than white people. Why these differences exist and what can be done to lessen them is the subject of ongoing research.

Regulators have identified around 30 cases of cancer linked to this blockbuster treatment. But is CAR T to blame? The hunt is on for answers.

Leukaemia treatments must eliminate the versatile cells that can bring the cancer back to life years later.

Ebola could pose a grave health threat to gorillas in Africa. Vaccination seems like a smart solution, but dosing the animals in the wild poses major challenges.

COVID-19 restrictions mean we are more susceptible to these viruses. What’s behind the current surge in the Northern Hemisphere, and what will the new normal be?

After 30 years of development, there is finally a vaccine for malaria. But it might take years to get it to the children who need it.