Louis Washkansky receives a donor heart

The FDA approved Enovid for use as an oral contraceptive, expanding control over pregnancy.

The medicine made hormonal prevention of pregnancy available by prescription.

The development included trials among women in Puerto Rico and raises questions about consent and power.

The decision did not guarantee that every woman could obtain contraception or decide freely whether to use it.

Barnard led a large Groote Schuur Hospital team in the first human-to-human heart transplant.

Nurses, surgeons, anesthetists, technicians and laboratory staff were needed for the procedure.

The surgery was performed in South Africa’s segregated medical system; its wider social context belongs in the history.

In animal tests, qinghao sample 191 inhibited malaria parasites in rodents with striking effectiveness.

The team drew on traditional medical texts while developing an ethyl-ether extraction method.

The 4 October finding was preclinical; later research was required before artemisinin could be used in patients.