COVER

The Year In Medicine From A to Z (Cover Story / The Year In Medicine)

It was a year of old scourges and new drugs, from the first vaccine that prevents cancer to a bug that spoiled an entire crop of California spinach

NATION

When Public Schools Aren't Color-Blind (Education)

Louisville's racial guidelines keep its schools from having too many or too few black students. Most parents like the policy. Will the Supreme Court strike it down?

WORLD

The Russian Roulette

The fatal poisoning of an outspoken former KGB agent adds to the chill of Vladimir Putin's Russia

HEALTH & MEDICINE

An African Miracle (Medicine)

How a few doctors and some antiviral drugs brought a child with AIDS--and thousands like him--back from the dead

Inside An AIDS clinic

In a small country in Africa, one clinic is making progress on the fight against pediatric AIDS. TIME's Christine Gorman reports from Lesotho

SOCIETY

BRIEFING

BUSINESS

Danger Caution Ahead

Hot cars and a cool CEO saved Nissan. But has success taken the edge off the brand's potential?

Hello, Hedge Funds

Big money and big questions push hedge funds--those below-the-radar investments for the rich--to do the unthinkable: show their faces

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

5 Boffo TV Boxes

These small-screen DVD collections will keep on giving long after the holiday season

Kate in The Raw (Profile)

How one actress worked--and stripped--her way from stardom to respect and back again

YOUR TIME

PEOPLE

LETTERS

My Person of the Year (Forum)

To help us make this year's selection, TIME asked people who were chosen in previous years for their 2006 nominations. A sampling:

ESSAY

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Going It Alone (Time Bonus Section December 2006: Generations)

People who have had a happy marriage may find it easier to move on after the death of their spouse

Her Second Act (Time Bonus Section December 2006: Generations)

Former Motown star Martha Reeves has elected to work in front of a new audience, the citizens of Detroit

Golden Gadgets (Time Bonus Section December 2006: Generations)

Cool technology is no longer just for kids. There is great stuff coming up for the aging market too

Viva El Gringo! (Time Bonus Section December 2006: Generations)

A couple enjoys la vida loca by retiring south of the border