We're writing a feature to check in on scientists working on bridging the gap between brain and machine. We're planning on asking them, "What's taking so long?"

When I think of brain-machine interfaces, a couple of things come to mind: The Borg from Star Trek, whose neural implants give it the ability to communicate telepathically as well as control implanted tazers and pincers. Then there's The Matrix, where a plug in the back of the brain connects the user to an elaborate virtual world.... Click to continue

Mammalian hair has a surprising evolutionary origin, according to a study published in PNAS this week: the reptilian claw.

Evolutionary biologists have long conjectured about the origin of hair -- did this defining mammalian characteristic evolve from features such as scales and feathers, or did it occur much later in mammalian evolution. "Because it's very difficult to find fossils" showing an intermediate stage between scales and hair, said first author Leopold Eckhart from the... Click to continue

In the same way it's hard to see the Milky Way in a major city, researchers sometimes struggle to see tagged structures because of natural background light emitted by cells. In this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, however, researchers show that a new type of tag helps separate structures from the background.

Gerard Marriott, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and colleagues found that using a blinking tag made it easier to spot cellular structures in live... Click to continue

Sanofi-Aventis announced this week that it would discontinue clinical trials of its anti-obesity drug, Acomplia. The decision followed similar moves by Pfizer and Merck, who also recently abandoned development of similar weight loss drugs.

Why is everyone jumping ship? The drugs all target the cannabinoid receptor CB1 -- also the target receptor for marijuana - in order to suppress appetite (read how Acomplia's mechanism of action compares with other diet drugs... Click to continue

While restoring dinosaurs from preserved mosquitoes remains as scientifically implausible as it was when the hit science fiction film Jurassic Park was made in 1993, the possibility of cloning the woolly mammoth and other extinct species just became a little bit more real. In this week's PNAS, researchers report... Click to continue