The changes may help explain the link between maternal infection and autism, though more research is needed.

Animals with human cells could provide donor organs or help us understand neuropsychiatric disorders.

George Church is at it again, this time using multiplex gene editing to create virus-proof cells, improve organ transplant success, and protect elephants.

Recent advances in modeling the human placenta, the least understood organ, may inform placental disorders like preeclampsia.

Researchers find that about a quarter of the immune cells are replaced every year.

Studying the earliest events in visual development, Carla Shatz has learned the importance of looking at one’s data with open eyes—and an open mind.

Once thought only to attack neurons, immune cells turn out to be vital for central nervous system function.

Editor's Note: This is the first of two articles on questions raised by recent stem cell discoveries. The second article, focusing on various organs and the nervous system, will appear in the Nov. 27 issue of The Scientist. Researchers first isolated embryonic stem cells (ESCs) from mouse blastocysts almost 20 years ago, and a paper announcing the discovery of human ESCs emerged in 1998. Adult-derived stem cells (ASCs) have since become the rage in certain quarters of biology, with unexpected--

Three members of a gene family called NOTCH2NL may have been involved in the evolution of humans’ big cortex.

Credit: Eric LaywellAn astrocyte monolayer that can be coaxed into becoming multipotent neural stemlike cells Editors Note: This is the second of two articles on issues raised by recent stem cell discoveries. The first article appeared in the November 13 issue "All politics is local" was a famous maxim of Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, the late speaker of the House of Representatives, and the same can be said of medically useful stem cells. Progenitor cells may prove to be more or less pluripotent in th