Paducah, KY, USA. The need for more information about prescription drug abuse is beyond dispute, but deciding who should have access to such information is a divisive issue.

Dr. Shawn Jones, an ear, nose and throat surgeon in Paducah, Kentucky, was conducting a routine office appointment when he got a phone call from a worried pharmacist. The pharmacist had just received a prescription from Jones for 90 Percocet pain pills, an unusually large order for a doctor who rarely prescribes more than 20 pills at one time.

San Diego, CA, USA. The first lab-grown blood vessels made from donor skin cells uses a new technique for human textiles that promises to cut eventual production costs by half.

The procedure eliminates much of the long lead time needed for making blood vessels from a patient's own cells. The results are a completely human-derived alternative to synthetic blood vessels that resist punctures and infections typical of synthetic materials.