Noted Harvard epidemiologist linkurl:Meir Stampfer;http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/facres/stmpfr.html has decided that he no longer wants to publicly tout the benefits of beer anymore at benefits sponsored by? surprise, Anheuser-Busch, brewer of approximately 30 beers in the U.S. alone. The researcher?s decision to affiliate himself with the company sparked outrage among some addiction experts, who accused Stampfer of unethical practice. Stampfer defended himself by arguing that he was simply prom

When you come across a worst case scenario -- say someone who had a well-paying job but fell on hard times and lost everything ? do you think of that person as an outlier, or an example of what can happen to anyone? The other day, I heard about Jo A. Del Rio, a former Merck employee. She brought home an annual salary of $80,000 until January, 2004, when she was laid off during downsizing. Soon after, a series of medical problems depleted her financial reserves, and she ended up living in a shel

Some acts of scientific creativity deserve recognition. After finding her dead cat, a Virginia woman named Marylin Christian had a number one suspect: her neighbor?s dog, a German Shepard mix named Lucky. According to the linkurl:Washington Post;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/08/AR2006010801330_pf.html, the woman, armed with memories of TV crime shows, asked Lucky?s owners for samples of saliva and fur. They obliged. Her county vet concluded that Lucky?s fur matc

FEATUREThe Banned Pesticide in Our Soil © JIM REED/GETTY IMAGES BY ALISON MCCOOK For years, commercial growers have been using methyl bromide to strip their soil of pathogens that impede plant growth. Colorless, odorless, cheap to make (often formed as a byproduct of other bromide manufacturing processes) and relatively easy to use, methyl

What happened when a small company thinks it can abolish a multibillion dollar industry?

Korean investigation committee concludes researcher manipulated data on 9 out of 11 stem cell lines; Hwang resigns

At a press conference today (December 16), Science editor-in-chief Donald Kennedy and deputy editor for life sciences Katrina Kelner presented their side of the story in the ongoing controversy over a cloning paper the journal published this year.Since the article, last author Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh has pulled out of a collaboration with his Korean co-authors, and first author Woo-suk Hwang admitted to both illegally obtaining eggs and tampering with images. Both Sch

In wake of Katrina, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center releases 430 staffers without pay, benefits

Shortfall that could cause faculty layoffs will be addressed, says the state

It?s important to recognize that consumer-friendly news reports about a promising new technology that?s years away can be somewhat torturous for people with conditions that need that technology now.Case in point: I know someone with a progressive and debilitating neurological disease who asked me the other day to contact a researcher she read about in Newsweek, who implanted a silicon chip into the brain of a person paralyzed from the neck down. The chip enabled the participant to direct a c

Everyone?s had the frustration of reading something is good for you one day, then bad for you the next. The same mixed message is now being circulated about fish. On Friday, I participated in a panel discussion in Washington DC hosted by the National Consumer?s League about how to resolve this situation. We, the panelists, were asked to explore the responsibilities of journalists, researchers, and policymakers in disseminating the complex message that fish is very good for you, but some people ?

One co-author sues another for over $1 million, arguing retraction without her consent damaged her reputation