News
- Health & Medicine
From rabies virus to anti-HIV vaccine
Researchers working with mice are trying to fashion an HIV vaccine by using a weakened rabies virus to bring an HIV glycoprotein to the attention of the immune system.
-
Good guys and bad guys share tactics
A microbial odd couple—the brucellosis pathogen and a nitrogen-fixer for plants—need the same gene to settle into their hosts long-term.
-
One-gene change makes mice neurotic
Researchers have engineered a strain of stressed-out mice by knocking out one gene.
- Health & Medicine
Treating one disease caused another
Egypt's public health service inadvertently spread hepatitis C while treating patients for schistosomiasis, a common parasitic disease, with injections of antischistomal medications.
- Health & Medicine
Antacids for asthma sufferers?
People with asthma have more acidic lungs than do people who don't have the disease, a finding that may prompt the development of novel asthma treatments aimed at restoring the normal pH value of the lungs.
- Health & Medicine
Gene expression helps classify cancers
Using gene chips to study the activity of thousands of genes simultaneously, researchers showed that a common cancer of white blood cells—diffuse large B-cell lymphoma—is in fact two distinct diseases.
- Earth
More Waters Test Positive for Drugs
Traces of drugs, excreted by people and livestock, pollute surface and ground waters in the United States, as had already been confirmed in Europe.
- Paleontology
Salvaged DNA adds to Neandertals’ mystique
Researchers who isolated a sample of Neandertal mitochondrial DNA say that it provides no evidence that Neandertals contributed to modern human evolution.
- Chemistry
Toxin in absinthe makes neurons run wild
The alpha-thujone in absinthe—Vincent Van Gogh's favorite drink—blocks brain receptors for a natural inhibitor of nerve impulses, causing brain cells to fire uncontrollably.
-
Lady-killing genes offer pest control
Two new fruit fly lines—with females that die on cue—could lead to changes in pest control.
- Health & Medicine
Cell mixture attacks pancreas tumors
White blood cells injected into patients with pancreatic tumors incite an immune response that blunts the cancer in some patients and extends survival.
- Planetary Science
Reviewers see red over recent Mars programs
NASA's two most recent missions to Mars failed because they were underfunded, managed by inexperienced people, and insufficiently tested, according to a report released March 28.
