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Features
Child-Proofing Drugs
Edyta Zielinska | Mar 1, 2012 | 10+ min read
When children need medications, getting the dosing and method of administration right is like trying to hit a moving target with an untried weapon.
Are the Kids Alright?
Bob Grant | Mar 1, 2012 | 10+ min read
Two key pieces of legislation, enacted to spur drugmakers into testing pharmaceutical products in children, are up for reauthorization in the US Congress this October. Have they done their jobs?
Vitamin D on Trial
Amy Maxmen | Mar 1, 2012 | 10+ min read
Prevention trials for vitamins and supplements are notoriously difficult, but some researchers aren’t giving up on finding proof that vitamin D helps ward off disease.
What it Takes to Develop Better Drugs for Kids
J. Steven Leeder | Mar 1, 2012 | 4 min read
Over the past 15 years, new laws and regulations in the United States and the European Union have expanded to require the inclusion of pediatric patients in clinical drug trials.
Editorial
Tricky Trials
Tricky Trials
Studies on safety, efficacy, or dosing of drugs in children, or on nutritional supplements, are not run-of-the-mill.
Speaking of Science
Speaking of Science
Speaking of Science
March 2012's selection of notable quotes
Notebook
T-Bee
T-Bee
Two researchers are trying to train bees to sniff out tuberculosis.
Test-Tube Zoo Babies
Test-Tube Zoo Babies
A National Zoo researcher works to perfect gamete preservation and in vitro fertilization techniques in order to better manage endangered populations.
Snake Tales
Snake Tales
An anthropologist and a herpetologist join forces to reveal the complex shared evolutionary and ecological history of pythons and primates.
The Joint Collector
The Joint Collector
Forget stamps: one bioengineer amasses broken artificial joints to learn why they failed and how to build better ones.
Thought Experiment
Who Are We Really?
Who Are We Really?
Manipulating the human microbiome has ethical implications.
Critic at Large
One Year On
One Year On
Some thoughts about the ecological fallout from Fukushima
Modus Operandi
Delivering Silence
Delivering Silence
Using RNA viruses to silence genes could optimize tissue targeting while reducing toxicity.
The Literature
How to Make Eyeball Stew
How to Make Eyeball Stew
Editor's choice in developmental biology
Promoting Death
Promoting Death
Editor's choice in biochemistry
Biota Babble
Biota Babble
Editor's choice in immunology
Profile
Model Citizen
Model Citizen
With an eye to understanding animal regeneration, Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado has turned a freshwater planarian into a model system to watch.
Scientist to Watch
David Sabatini: Demystifying mTOR
David Sabatini: Demystifying mTOR
Principal Investigator, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Age: 44
Lab Tools
Combing the Cancer Genome
Combing the Cancer Genome
A guided tour through the main online resources for analyzing cancer genomics data
Bio Business
Braving the IPO Drought
Braving the IPO Drought
Despite nervous investors and a volatile market, a courageous few biotechnology companies are taking their chances on Wall Street.
Reading Frames
The Specter of Denialism
The Specter of Denialism
Conspiracy theories surrounding the global HIV/AIDS epidemic have cost thousands of lives. But science is fighting back.
Foundations
The Subcellular World Revealed, 1945
The Subcellular World Revealed, 1945
The first electron microscope to peer into an intact cell ushers in the new field of cell biology.
Slideshows
A Whiff of TB
A Whiff of TB
Chemical ecologist Max Suckling at the Institute for Plant and Food Research Ltd., and summer student Rachael Sagar use Pavlovian conditioning to train bees to stick out their tongues, or proboscises, at the scent of odors produced by tuberculosis-causing bacteria.
Electron Microscopy Through the Ages
Electron Microscopy Through the Ages
Take a tour through the revolutionary menthod's past, present, and future.
Contributors
Contributors
Contributors
Meet some of the people featured in the March 2012 issue of The Scientist.
Infographics
Suspected Effects of Vitamin D
Suspected Effects of Vitamin D
Vitamin D has a variety of actions in the body. It binds to the vitamin D receptor (VDR), which then binds to the retinoid X receptor (RXR) and activates the expression of numerous genes.
How Drugs Interact with a Baby’s Parts
How Drugs Interact with a Baby’s Parts
A lot changes in a child’s body over the course of development, and not all changes occur linearly: gene expression can fluctuate, and organs can perform different functions on the way to their final purpose in the body. Here are some of the key deve
How the Pediatric Laws Work
How the Pediatric Laws Work
The Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA) of 2003 requires that companies developing new drugs that could be used to treat a condition in children perform clinical trials in kids before winning FDA approval.
Capsule Reviews
Capsule Reviews
Capsule Reviews
The Wandering Gene and the Indian Princess, The Forever Fix, Connectome, and DNA USA
Videos
Preserving Endangered Gametes
Preserving Endangered Gametes
Pierre Comizzoli, a reproductive physiologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, chats about his efforts to rescue endangered species from extinction using in vitro fertilization as well as novel gamete preservation techniques.