All Stories by Patrick Barry
- Health & Medicine
Putting tumors on pause
Keeping benign breast tumors from progressing into a malignant cancer can be achieved in mice by reducing a signaling protein.
- Earth
Folding with a little help from friends
By slowly unraveling a protein, scientists have shown how other proteins called chaperones influence protein folding.
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Hold the Embryos: Genes turn skin into stem cells
Scientists have found a way to convert a person's skin cells directly into stem cells without creating and destroying embryos.
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Ladies First: Genes skew sex ratios in evolutionary struggle
A gene in fruit flies favors the birth of females, until another gene comes along to restore balance between the sexes.
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Doing the DNA shuffle
DNA near the ends of people's chromosomes shows surprisingly large differences from the corresponding DNA in other great apes.
- Health & Medicine
Nongene DNA boosts AIDS risk
People with a newly discovered genetic variation are more vulnerable to HIV infection.
- Humans
Burdens of knowledge
Greater understanding of the role of genetics in human diseases presents scientists with ethical dilemmas.
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Extreme Healing: Protein aids limb regrowth in newts
The ability of newts to regenerate severed limbs depends crucially on a protein released by the insulating sheath around nerves.
- Health & Medicine
Regulating Muscle Decline: Small molecules linked to degenerative diseases
Snippets of RNA that regulate gene activity play a role in muscle-wasting diseases such as muscular dystrophy.
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Stem Cells from Virgin Eggs
Making embryonic stem cells from unfertilized eggs might bypass many ethical concerns, but important scientific hurdles remain.
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Emotional memory
The action of a stress hormone could be why emotionally charged events form especially vivid and durable memories.
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Bacteria thrive by freeloading
Mutant bacteria thrive by freeloading off their hard-working kin, but these slackers revert to working normally if they become too numerous.
