Revenge of the Weeds
Plant pests are evolving to outsmart common herbicides, costing farmers crops and money.
Opinion: Misleading Drug Trials
Amgen’s incomplete report on an early major trial of epoetin misled the medical community about the anemia drug’s risks and benefits—and helped make Amgen rich.
From Squeaks to Song
House mice sing melodies out of the range of human hearing, and the crooning is impacting research from evolutionary biology to neuroscience.
Burgers and Flies
Inspired by Darwin, Mohamed Noor has uncovered the molecular dance by which a single species becomes two.
News & Opinion
Covering the life sciences inside and out
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.
Pain-Killing Transplants
By Ed Yong
Neurons injected into mice help treat chronic pain at its roots, rather than simply alleviating its symptoms.
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.
Next Generation: Good Vibrations
By Edyta Zielinska
Adding texture to a lotus-leaf-like surface lets researchers control the movement of liquid droplets, and provides a cheap alternative for microfluidic applications.
The Nutshell
Daily News Roundup
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.
Obama to Weigh Open Access
A petition asking for online, readable publication of all government-funded research is making its way to the White House.
Overhauling Industry-Sponsored Studies
Major pharmaceutical companies have agreed to a handful of recommendations aimed at increasing the transparency of clinical trials they fund.
Current Issue
May 2012
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
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…
Telomere Basics
Telomeres are repetitive, noncoding sequences that cap the ends of linear chromosomes. They consist of hexameric nucleotide sequences (TTAGGG in…
