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With prostate cancer, as with other diseases, there has been a vigorous debate about who should be tested. Screening too many people leads to unnecessary treatment, too few and you miss cancers that could have been stopped. A new study points to what may be a better approach: “screen smarter.” (11/25)

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the most significant case on abortion access in more than two decades. In doing so, it has set the stage for a decisive clash between two disparate conversations about abortion in America that have been on a collision course since Roe v. Wade settled the issue as a matter of law nearly 43 years ago. (Nancy Northup, 11/25)

Ebola lingers. A 15-year-old boy in Monrovia, Liberia, his father and his brother are sick with the disease, the first cases in Liberia since June. How the boy caught Ebola is a mystery, but it is likely he had contact with an Ebola survivor. The virus also lingers in the body — and can sicken its host and infect others — even months after recovery. There will most likely be more cases in this epidemic. But now, greater awareness and new tools are in place to contain them better, including a tool we have never had before: an effective vaccine. (Tina Rosenberg, 11/24)

Last week the World Health Organization organized the first World Antibiotic Awareness Week with a campaign warning about the perils of antibiotic resistance—when germs become immune to standard treatments, sometimes through misuse of the drugs. Confronting dangerous misconceptions about antibiotics is noble, but could part of the problem be with the word “antibiotic” itself? (Ben Zimmer, 11/24)

While Dad was in Washington to celebrate his 91st birthday a few weeks ago, my sister Marilyn and I decided to ­show him an independent-living facility. I thought the tour went well. But at a restaurant for lunch afterward, I realized too late that Dad had been unnerved by the experience. Asked to be more specific about his plans for downsizing, he exploded. “I’ve had enough of this,” he said, rising abruptly from his seat. He paid the tab and exited the restaurant so fast that his walking cane barely touched the floor. (Courtland Milloy, 11/24)

This interview, the latest in a series on political topics, discusses philosophical issues concerning the criminalization of drug use. My interviewee is Douglas Husak, professor of philosophy at Rutgers University. He is the author of “Overcriminalization: The Limits of the Criminal Law.” (Gary Gutting, 11/24)