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Remember Retin-A? This topical cream, originally designed to treat acne, turned out to be an effective anti-wrinkle medication. Science has lots of "happy accident" stories, and the latest one involves atrasentan, an experimental heart-failure drug from Abbott Laboratories that never delivered on its promise, but then, quite unintentionally, was discovered to battle advanced prostate cancer, even when hormone treatment had failed. Atrasentan is still in clinical testing.

Another happy accident is the cancer drug C75, which when administered to lab mice appeared to block their appetites. Furthermore, scientists discovered that the drug tricked the animals into thinking they had eaten; their metabolism didn't slow and they kept burning fat.

The drug is still being tested for cancer treatment, but researchers are looking into the possibility that it may be used to treat obesity.

German surgeons this year successfully turned a coronary vein into an artery in a heart patient. The procedure–percutaneous in situ coronary venous arterialization (PICVA) –promises to be a nonsurgical treatment alternative for patients whose arteries are severely clogged, requiring them to undergo bypass surgery or angioplasty. PICVA requires only local anesthesia.

Lower back pain may not necessarily spell surgery. A minimally invasive procedure called nucleoplasty, sometimes offered to patients who suffer from a mildly herniated disk, involves inserting a needle into the disk, then threading into it a device that emits radio-frequency energy, vaporizing the excess tissue.

Though scurvy isn't a common disease these days, the Japanese company Fuji Spinning is about to start marketing a T-shirt that will release vitamin C into the skin and maintain the nutrient for up to 30 washes.

Formerly a mainland hypochondriac, writer Yael Li-Ron (www.tipx.com) enjoys great health since she moved to Hawaii. Her interest in medical research, and genetic engineering in particular, started a few years ago when a close friend was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.