Feature

  1. Health & Medicine

    All Roads Lead to RUNX

    Genetic mutations that predispose some people to the autoimmune diseases lupus, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis appear to have a common molecular feature: They derail the work of a protein, called RUNX1, that regulates how active certain genes are.

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  2. Materials Science

    Forensics on Trial

    A decades-long practice of matching bullets on the basis of their chemical makeup is flawed, and the story behind this forensic technique reveals how science can get distorted in the courtroom.

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  3. Animals

    The Social Lives of Snakes

    A lot of pit vipers aren't the asocial loners that even snake fans had long assumed.

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  4. Mother and Child Disunion

    Data on extensive giveaways of daughters by their mothers in northern Taiwan a century ago may challenge influential theories of innate maternal sentiments.

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  5. The Bad Seed

    Researchers are racing to identify tumor-forming stem cells in skin, lung, pancreatic, and many other cancers.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Know Your Enemy

    Scientists mine the tuberculosis genome.

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  7. Astronomy

    Invisible Universe

    X-ray astronomy opens a new window on the most energetic cosmic events.

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  8. Planetary Science

    A New Flight Plan

    President Bush recently unveiled an ambitious plan for a manned mission to Mars, using the moon as a testing area and stepping-stone, but for many planetary scientists the moon is a desirable destination in and of itself.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Born to Heal

    The controversial strategy of screening embryos to produce donors for siblings raises hopes and presents new ethical dilemmas.

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  10. Tech

    Body Builders

    By growing stem cells on three- dimensional polymer scaffolds, tissue engineers hope to mimic natural tissue development and ultimately produce replacement body parts.

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  11. Earth

    Killer Waves

    Scientists are using sophisticated computer models, field studies of coastal geology, and data from tidal gauges to assess the tsunami risk for coastal residents.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Inflammatory Fat

    Immune system cells may underlie much of the disease-provoking injury in obese individuals that has been linked to their excess fat.

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