Swiss researchers are developing contact lenses that contain tiny telescopes to boost vision and zoom in and out with the wink of an eye, researchers said Friday.
The latest advances in vision aids -- some of which could potentially help the 285 million people worldwide with some form of vision impairment -- were discussed at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in California.

Social media are turning Saudis into "electronic potatoes" and contributing to unhealthy lifestyles which leave one in four at risk of suffering a heart attack over the next decade, experts said Friday.
Researchers calculated the 10-year risk of a heart attack for more than 4,900 urban Saudis with no history of heart disease.

Imagine being able to identify who is likely to develop a particular disease — and then stop the disorder before it starts.
That's the goal of three research projects launched by Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical research arm, Janssen Research & Development. The projects, announced Thursday, aim to prevent illnesses — particularly ones related to aging and lifestyle — including Alzheimer's disease, cancer, heart disease and Type 1 diabetes.

Menopausal women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) boost the risk of ovarian cancer by 40 percent, even if they take the treatment only for a few years, a study said Friday.
The probe marks the widest-ever analysis of the risk of ovarian cancer from HRT, a treatment whose use declined when its safety was questioned a dozen years ago.

A six-day old premature baby has become the youngest infant to receive a heart transplant at a U.S. hospital, doctors and her proud parents said Thursday.
Baby Oliver Crawford underwent the operation at Phoenix Children's Hospital in Arizona after being born seven weeks ahead of schedule with a heart defect which meant her parents didn't expect him to survive.

South Korea on Friday announced a crackdown on illegal brokers and unregistered clinics in a bid to protect medical tourists, especially those drawn by the country's booming plastic surgery industry.
The Health Ministry unveiled a raft of measures drafted in response to a growing number of complaints over botched jobs and exorbitant billing, many of them filed by Chinese women who travel specifically to South Korea for cosmetic procedures.

A Swiss tourist died Thursday of swine flu while visiting India, a local health official said, as the country grapples with an outbreak that has killed more than 400 people since the start of 2015.
The 70-year-old woman fell ill while visiting the western state of Rajasthan, a popular tourist destination that has been particularly hard hit by the latest outbreak.

Education chiefs apologized on Thursday for wrongly announcing a postponement of the reopening of Ebola-hit Liberia's schools, blaming the mix-up on "problems at the ministry".
Classrooms were shut six months ago to limit the spread of the virus as the epidemic neared its peak, but lessons had been due to restart next week -- before a two-week delay was announced on Wednesday.

More than a million Qataris were given a day off work Tuesday to take part in a nationwide day of sport amid growing concern at obesity levels in the super-rich Gulf state.
Although the annual Qatar National Sport Day is meant to be a fun event with beach volleyball, jogging, fitness boot camps and even a screening of the boxing movie "Rocky", it contains a serious message.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a real and serious disease that needs a new name to reflect that — and a straightforward way to diagnose the illness, a U.S. government advisory group declared Tuesday.
Patients flooded the prestigious Institute of Medicine with stories of years of misdiagnosis or even being dismissed by skeptical doctors. Tuesday, an IOM panel sought to redefine this long-controversial ailment, setting five main symptoms as simple criteria for doctors to use in making a diagnosis.
