News & Opinion

Covering the life sciences inside and out

Immunohistochemistry staining of Sertoli cells with green cytoplasms and red nuclei. Lee B. Smith

Loss of Microtubule Regulator Blocks Sperm Maturation

By Sabrina Richards

New research suggests that controlling cytoskeletal dynamics in sperm accessory cells may help regulate male fertility.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CANDIDA PERFORMA

The Aging and Inflammation Link

By Ruth Williams

A protein that keeps the immune response in check leads a double life as an anti-aging factor.

Flickr, Nanny snowflake

Pain-Killing Transplants

By Ed Yong

Neurons injected into mice help treat chronic pain at its roots, rather than simply alleviating its symptoms.

A human mesenchymal stem cellWikimedia Commons, Ghanson

Could Stem Cells Cure MS?

By Megan Scudellari

A growth factor isolated from human stem cells shows promising results in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis.

The Nutshell

Daily News Roundup

Food’s Afterlife

Meals left to mold develop colors, mycelia, and beads of digested juices, sparking the eye of an artist, and the slight concern of a mycologist.

Bogus Isomer Vendors Identified

Pharma company publishes a list of 17 companies known to have sold the incorrect isomer of the kinase inhibitor bosutinib.

Lab Bench Beauty

Ten scientist-produced images take top honors in the first annual Bio-Art competition.

DNA to Curb Illegal Fishing

A new SNP assay can determine the geographical origin of commonly overexploited fish species.

Fukushima Risk Less Than Feared

Cancers due to radiation will not increase in Japan, according to studies conducted in the wake of the 2011 nuclear disaster.

Current Issue

May 2012

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SPRead Your Antibody Capabilities

Using surface plasmon resonance to improve antibody detection and characterization: four case studies

Data Diving

What lies untapped beneath the surface of published clinical trial analyses could rock the world of independent review.

Freezing Time

Targeting the briefest moment in chemistry may lead to an exceptionally strong new class of drugs.

Telomeres in Disease

Telomeres have been linked to numerous diseases over the years, but how exactly short telomeres cause diseases and how medicine can prevent telomere erosion are still up for debate.

Multimedia

Video, Slideshows, Infographics

This micrograph shows cells called myoblasts attached to spherical microcarriers, which allow the growth of adult stem cells (green) that have been isolated from skeletal muscle.Douglas B. Cowan, Harvard Medical School

2012 Bio-Art Winners

The images put the “art” in “smart”: Pink and green enzymes in a rat spinal cord form an ethereal butterfly;…

The peppered moth is so good at blending in with the background that researchers knew little about its behavior in the wild for decades. Can you spot the light-colored typica moth against the lichen filled tree bark?Michael Majerus

Spot the Moth

It’s a well-known story: The peppered moth’s ancestral typica phenotype is white with dark speckles. In the decades following the…