Humans

Health & Medicine

Tumor tracking gets personal

A new method has the potential to use genome science to improve cancer care.

Health & Medicine

Lunch time for stem cells

Kristen Brennand is trying to tease out how the cells in brains of healthy people differ from those in schizophrenic patients. The problem: No one wants to give up a chunk of brain for her to study. So she’s fashioning her own clumps of brain cells from tissue people willingly part with – skin.

Humans

Decoding diversity in Bushmen

Decoding the genetic makeup of tribal leaders and Archbishop Desmond Tutu uncovers rich genetic diversity in southern Africans.

Psychology

Cell phone distraction while driving is a two-way street

When operating a car, drivers lose a grip on messages they hear.

Health & Medicine

Mutations may underlie some stuttering

Defects in three genes governing basic cell metabolism are found in a portion of cases, researchers find.

Anthropology

Ancient DNA points to additional New World migration

Scientists have extracted a nearly complete genome from the hairs of a 4,000-year-old man, suggesting a new scenario for Asian migrations into the New World.

Health & Medicine

Inflammatory bowel disease hikes blood clots

Study finds people with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis have greatest risk during painful episodes.

Life

Sperm’s pore propulsion

Scientists identify a key proton channel that helps explain the dash to fertilization.

Health & Medicine

Protein clumps like a prion, but proves crucial for long-term memory

Study in slugs hints that some molecular 'misbehavior' in neurons may help solidify learning.

Agriculture

EPA reviews hints of weed killer’s fetal risks

The Environmental Protection Agency will be convening meetings of its Scientific Advisory Panel on pesticides throughout 2010 to probe concerns about the safety of atrazine, a weed killer on which most American corn growers rely. The first meeting of these outside experts started Tuesday. And although a large number of studies have indicated that atrazine can perturb hormones in animals and human cells — and might even pose a possible risk of cancer amongst heavily exposed people, these outcomes were not the focus of EPA’s review Tuesday. Risks to babies were.

Health & Medicine

Journal retracts flawed study linking MMR vaccine and autism

Deleted Scenes Blog: Biomedical reporter Nathan Seppa describes latest chapter in controversy created by now debunked research.

Health & Medicine

Small study hints SSRIs delay breast milk in new moms

Women taking the antidepressant drugs began lactating later.