Feature
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Gene Doping
Inserting genes for extra strength or speed could give athletes an unbeatable, and perhaps undetectable, advantage in competitive sports.
- Health & Medicine
Creepy-Crawly Care
Encouraging results from research on medical uses for maggots and leeches, coupled with recent government approval of both therapies, lend credibility to the idea that some live organisms deserve a place in the medical armamentarium.
By Ben Harder -
Reworking Intuition
Financially endangered companies rapidly reorganized to become profitable after key staff members ran simulated companies in 2-day sessions organized by a San Diego psychologist.
By Bruce Bower - Materials Science
One-Upping Nature’s Materials
Striving for designer substances that build themselves from individual molecules.
- Animals
Will Mr. Bowerbird Fall for a Robot?
Push a button and she turns her head. But can she turn his?
By Susan Milius - Humans
What’s Wrong with This Picture?
Scientists and educators increasingly are using analyses of bad science in movies, as well as the good, to inform the public about scientific facts and principles.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Vitamin D: What’s Enough?
Most researchers studying vitamin D agree that many people would benefit from more of the vitamin, but they haven't yet decided just how much.
By Janet Raloff -
They’re Sequencing a What?
Announcements of new targets for genome sequencing are bringing celebrity to lesser-known twigs on the tree of life.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Vitamin Boost
Vitamin D is being linked to a host of health benefits that go well beyond stronger bones, extending to muscle preservation and some protection against cancer, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis.
By Janet Raloff -
- Archaeology
Original Microbrews
Pots, vats, and other artifacts unearthed on three continents are giving archaeologists new clues about ancient cultures' beer-brewing practices.
By Carrie Lock - Physics
Information, Please
Understanding whether the information swallowed by black holes is destroyed forever may provide physicists with new clues for unifying gravity and quantum theories.
By Ron Cowen