All Stories by John Travis
-
A bitter taste in your . . . stomach
The stomach may be able to "taste" bitter substances.
-
Channel Surfing
The newly revealed three-dimensional structures of proteins called ion channels reveal the secrets of their crucial function.
- Health & Medicine
Broken Weapon: Mutation disarms HIV-fighting gene
A gene that once produced a small protein able to prevent HIV from infecting cells now lies unusable in the human genome.
- Health & Medicine
Alzheimer’s vaccine trial is suspended
A drug company in Ireland has halted tests of an experimental vaccine for Alzheimer's disease.
-
Cool Discovery: Menthol triggers cold-sensing protein
A cell-surface protein that lets ions flow into cells responds to menthol and cool temperatures.
-
- Health & Medicine
Taking a toll: Antiviral drugs activate immune system
Promising antiviral drugs activate a key immune-system protein.
-
Unfertilized monkey eggs make stem cells
Scientists have for the first time obtained long-lived stem cells from monkey eggs stimulated to undergo parthenogenesis.
- Health & Medicine
DREAMing away pain
Mutant mice lacking a certain regulatory protein overproduce a natural opioid and are less sensitive to pain than are other mice.
-
Nerve cells ring in the Winter Olympics
Scientists in Utah have sculpted living nerve cells into a microscopic version of the interlocking rings that symbolize the Olympic games.
- Health & Medicine
Cancer clue: RNA-destroying enzyme may thwart prostate-tumor growth
Scientists have found a mutated gene that predisposes men of some families to prostate cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Gene Variant Tied to Human Aging
Variants of a gene linked to mouse aging are more prevalent in elderly people than in newborns, suggesting that the gene influences human aging or specific age-related illnesses.
