Since the completion of the Human Genome Project a decade ago, much excitement has swirled around the possibility that determining a person’s genetic makeup could help doctors personalize the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. But James P. Evans, a physician and geneticist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says the promises of genomic medicine have been overblown. He talked with Science News molecular biology writer Tina Hesman Saey about the hope and hype. Will knowing a person’s genetic makeup make health care better? There’s lots of excitement about ... (p. 36)

As director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s NexGen Program, toxicologist Ila Cote leads a collaboration that brings together data, methods, skills and brains from diverse fields to better understand how chemicals interact with living things and the environment. In doing so, scientists hope to answer questions about potential risks from chemical exposure more quickly and cheaply. Cote, who recently hosted a conference about NexGen in Washington, D.C., discussed the effort with Science News chemistry writer Rachel Ehrenberg. What is risk assessment? Risk assessment is a pro... (p. 36)

Whatever the ultimate repercussions of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident in Japan (see Page 6), the crisis raises questions over the role nuclear power should play as an energy source. Michael Levi, head of the energy security and climate change program at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, spoke to reporters on March 14 about the accident’s potential implications for U.S. nuclear policy. Science News contributing editor Alexandra Witze excerpted his comments. How will this event affect public opinion on nuclear power in the United States? Most people will have... (p. 32)

Trained as a mechanical engineer in India, Subra Suresh researched the interfaces between engineering, biology and materials science before becoming dean of engineering at MIT and, as of October, director of the U.S. National Science Foundation. In February in Washington, D.C., at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Suresh laid out his vision for the agency he now leads, which has a $7 billion portfolio for funding basic research. Science News contributing editor Alexandra Witze spoke with Suresh and compiled these comments from the interview and his ... (p. 32)

Last month in Washington, D.C., at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, theoretical physicist Lisa Randall of Harvard University spoke about her hopes for the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. She sat down with Science News physical sciences writer Devin Powell after her February 19 talk to discuss what evidence the European collider, which is expected to operate at half power through 2012, might provide for her groundbreaking theories and for the Higgs mechanism, a process that would explain why particles have ma... (p. 32)

As a chemist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., David Nichols studies psychedelic compounds in a quest to understand the brain, often creating new compounds as part of his research. He was recently dismayed to find himself cited by name in a newspaper article about an amateur chemist who scours the scientific literature for recipes that he can use to produce designer drugs that are legal but untested and often unsafe. In fact, street drugs based on a paper that Nichols published years ago have contributed to a number of deaths. Nichols recently spoke with Science News neuroscience w... (p. 32)

In January the American Association for the Advancement of Science hosted a panel in Washington, D.C., on the emerging field of convergence, which integrates engineering, the physical sciences and life sciences to solve problems in health care, energy and other sectors. Speakers described the movement as an integration of disciplines that will require changes to the peer review system, funding mechanisms, the structure of academic departments and the training of science's next generation. Science News writer Rachel Ehrenberg attended and excerpted comments by Robert Langer, an MIT engineer who... (p. 32)

At the 2010 Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego, a group of scientists held a session on how poverty changes the brain. Neuroscientist Helen Neville of the University of Oregon in Eugene joined the discussion and described some of her group’s studies on the brains of 3- to 5-year-old children who grow up poor. She met with Science News neuroscience writer Laura Sanders after the November 14 session to discuss some of the Oregon group’s findings about what a low socioeconomic status does to the brain, and how intervention can help counter those effects. How does poverty affect t... (p. 32)