Feature
- Health & Medicine
All Roads Lead to RUNX
Genetic mutations that predispose some people to the autoimmune diseases lupus, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis appear to have a common molecular feature: They derail the work of a protein, called RUNX1, that regulates how active certain genes are.
- Materials Science
Forensics on Trial
A decades-long practice of matching bullets on the basis of their chemical makeup is flawed, and the story behind this forensic technique reveals how science can get distorted in the courtroom.
- Animals
The Social Lives of Snakes
A lot of pit vipers aren't the asocial loners that even snake fans had long assumed.
-
Mother and Child Disunion
Data on extensive giveaways of daughters by their mothers in northern Taiwan a century ago may challenge influential theories of innate maternal sentiments.
-
The Bad Seed
Researchers are racing to identify tumor-forming stem cells in skin, lung, pancreatic, and many other cancers.
-
- Astronomy
Invisible Universe
X-ray astronomy opens a new window on the most energetic cosmic events.
- Planetary Science
A New Flight Plan
President Bush recently unveiled an ambitious plan for a manned mission to Mars, using the moon as a testing area and stepping-stone, but for many planetary scientists the moon is a desirable destination in and of itself.
- Health & Medicine
Born to Heal
The controversial strategy of screening embryos to produce donors for siblings raises hopes and presents new ethical dilemmas.
- Tech
Body Builders
By growing stem cells on three- dimensional polymer scaffolds, tissue engineers hope to mimic natural tissue development and ultimately produce replacement body parts.
- Earth
Killer Waves
Scientists are using sophisticated computer models, field studies of coastal geology, and data from tidal gauges to assess the tsunami risk for coastal residents.
- Health & Medicine
Inflammatory Fat
Immune system cells may underlie much of the disease-provoking injury in obese individuals that has been linked to their excess fat.
