All Stories by John Travis
- Health & Medicine
Vanquishing a Virus: New drugs attack herpes infections
Scientists have identified a new class of compounds that stop herpes simplex virus from replicating.
- Health & Medicine
Diluted smallpox vaccine is potent
About 15 million doses of smallpox vaccine held by the U.S. government can be diluted to one-tenth their original concentration and still be effective for immunizing people.
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Immune cells carry concealed weapons
Scientists propose that protein-cleaving enzymes called proteases are the real microbe destroyers in bacteria-killing cells called neutrophils.
- Chemistry
The True Sweet Science
New techniques and tools are helping scientists elucidate the roles that complex sugars play in the human body and in drug manufacturing.
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Hot Cereal: Rice reveals bumper crop of genes
Two research groups have identified all the genes in rice, the world's most important crop.
- Health & Medicine
A tasty discovery about the tongue
Scientists can now explain how the tongue tastes the amino acids in proteins.
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Bright Idea: Protein relocation helps eyes adapt to light
Animals appear to adapt to bright light by reducing their use of proteins involved in the eye's light-detecting systems.
- Animals
Leave It to Evolution: Duplicated gene aids odd monkey diet
A duplicated gene that has rapidly evolved helps certain monkey species thrive on a diet of leaves.
- Health & Medicine
Computer sharing tackles anthrax
A drug-discovery effort using more than a million personal computers worldwide has identified thousands of compounds that could form the basis of a cure for anthrax.
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Clones face uncertain future
Scientists have cloned a cat, but new studies suggest that cloned animals have shortened lifespans.
- Health & Medicine
Stem Cell Success: Mice fuel debate on embryo cloning
In mouse studies, scientists have used a technique called therapeutic cloning to create personalized replacement tissue.
- Health & Medicine
Alzheimer’s disease vaccine abandoned
Safety concerns forced the shelving of tests of an experimental vaccine for Alzheimer's disease.
