John Travis

All Stories by John Travis

  1. Blood Work

    Knowing the identity of every protein in the liquid portion of blood could offer new ways to detect—or even treat and prevent—many diseases.

  2. Man-made thymus churns out immune cells

    Scientists have constructed an artificial thymus to make immune cells in the laboratory.

  3. Brain, heal thyself

    The rodent brain can be stimulated to replace damaged cells with new ones.

  4. Protein helps the brain connect

    Neuroligins may help brain cells form specialized links known as synapses.

  5. Feline Finding: Mutations produce black house cats, jaguars

    Mutations in two different genes, which lead to black fur in house cats, jaguars, and jaguarundis, may have protected the black felines from an epidemic long ago.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Portrait of a cancer drug at work

    Newly revealed protein structures show how a breast cancer drug functions.

  7. Pass the Genes, Please

    Gene swapping muddles the history of microbes.

  8. E. coli toxin shows its deadly touch

    A toxin from a bacterium that causes food poisoning appears to kill cells by interacting with a protein called Bcl-2.

  9. Stem Cell Surprise: Blood cells form liver, nerve cells

    Human blood contains stem cells that can be transformed outside the body into a variety of cell types, suggesting that a person's blood could someday provide replacement cells for that individual's damaged brain or kidney.

  10. Dolly, first cloned mammal, is dead

    Dolly, the first clone of an adult mammal, has been euthanized after acquiring a severe lung infection.

  11. Possible Alzheimer’s vaccine seems safe

    A vaccine intended to slow or prevent the devastation of Alzheimer's disease appears promising, according to preliminary tests in people.

  12. Mining the Mouse

    Recent analyses of the mouse genome illuminate human health and evolution.