We generally think of viruses as bad things. They can give us a cold, the flu or even more serious diseases, like cervical cancer in women.

But now a new study has come out that shows that doctors could use a virus to defeat cancerous tumors without killing healthy tissue.

Many women taking bone-strengthening drugs like Fosamax or Actonel for osteoporosis may be dismayed by news coming out of a medical conference: long-term use of the drugs can lead to more broken bones, not fewer. Shari Roan of the L.A. Times writes of the drugs known as biphosphonates:

Kudos to the Boston Globe for doing its own analysis of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data to examine the use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes. Reporter Kay Lazar found that that more than a fifth of seniors who received powerful drugs like Seroquel probably did not need them.

We’ve talked a lot about insurance rate hikes, especially the well-publicized debate over Anthem Blue Cross raising some of its premiums by as much as 39 percent.

Well, the Obama administration has certainly seized on this debate as an opportunity to argue for its health care reform efforts.

It would be nice to blame obesity on something other than overeating, underexercising and genetics. So the media is all over new research published in Science Express suggesting that the bacteria in our gut might play a role in appetite and weight gain.

Time magazine's Alice Park examines the study, writing that researchers:

If you’ve followed the health care reform debate, you’ve probably heard rhetoric about how insurers like WellPoint Inc. are to blame for rising costs.