Ever wondered it would be like to tell a journal "nah, I don't think I want reviewers to re-review my manuscript"? Well, now you can -- in a new experimental policy, the linkurl:Journal of Biology;http://jbiol.com/ is giving authors the option of asking the journal to publish their revised paper without the okay of reviewers. In other words, once they have revised the manuscript, they can bypass a second review, a process that typically tacks on extra time. According to the journal's publishe

A compound used to solubilize drugs surprisingly improves the symptoms of a rare genetic disorder, Niemann-Pick type C, and a new study in PNAS provides some clues as to how. Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas fed NPC mice a form of cyclodextrin, a doughnut-shaped chemical with a water-soluble ring and a fat-soluble hole that enables the compound to solubilize an otherwise insoluble molecule, such as a drug. The hallmark of NPC is disrupted cholestero

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama named more scientists to top posts over the weekend: Harold Varmus and Eric Lander will serve as co-chairs of the president's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, headed up by Harvard physicist John Holdren. Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist and former head of the AAAS, will also lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These scientists are no strangers to our pages: Two years ago, Varmus, president of Memorial Sloan Ketterin

The Scientist Top Innovations of 2008 For the first time, we laud the ten most outstanding new products to hit the life science market. The life sciences move fast. Across the globe, companies are constantly churning out new products that they say will make your research smarter. For six years, we've ranked the vendors of life science equipment in our Life Science Industry Awards. Now, to recognize winning combinations of invention, vision and

It's a big day in the consumer media, abuzz with the news that doctors linkurl:engineered a windpipe;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/daily/53878/ for a 30-year-old woman using her own stem cells, but at the offices of linkurl:Tengion,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/daily/53878/ a Pennsylvania biotech currently building bladders using patient cells, it's just business as usual. This news "confirms what we know," said Gary Sender, chief financial officer at Tengion. "We know we are in

Build up cash reserves, don't over-cut in research and staff... These are some of the steps that can help life science companies get through the linkurl:current financial turbulence,;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55142/ according to an expert who has made a career out of linkurl:helping life science companies stay afloat.;http://www.the-scientist.com/2008/01/01/s48/1/ We're hearing a lot of linkurl:different prognoses;http://www.the-scientist.com/community/posts/list/233.page for th

Now that election day is over and we can stop feverishly predicting who will move into the White House, it's time to start feverishly predicting who President-elect Barack Obama will appoint to linkurl:key positions;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55167/ in his cabinet. So far, the linkurl:Wall Street Journal;http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/11/05/horse-race-begins-for-new-leaders-at-fda-and-hhs/ has heard three names as potential leaders of the Health and Human Services: linkurl:Ha

Sitting at a small table on the second floor of the Ryan Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Charles Vite crosses his legs and smiles gently - the warm, mild-mannered look of someone you would trust to give shots to a beloved (and terrified) family pet. "I was debating how to talk about the cats," he says. Along with treating some of the 30,000 animals that are brought in each year to the clinic one floor below, Vite conducts somewhat

Twin Disorders What can two little girls teach us about Alzheimer's disease? By Alison McCook hen you meet identical four-year old twins Addi and Cassi Hempel, you might notice something about the way they walk. They used to run around like other toddlers, but now they are more wobbly, more uncertain, and walk with their legs somewhat wide apart, as if aboard a boat. They can sway in any direction, losing their balance. They fall more often than they should.

The wires - including, um, linkurl:Wired;http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/biologists-on-t.html - are abuzz this week with talk of research by Jack Szostak, a Harvard researcher who is trying to create synthetic life. The attention stems from results he presented last week at an Origin of Life conference, as well as data he's published recently. Loyal readers will recall that linkurl:we wrote about;http://www.the-scientist.com/2006/1/1/30/1/ Szostak's work nearly two years ago,

The following is a post by Eric Vance, a freelancer for Scientific American, who sent us this story. PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA -- It was perhaps the most highly touted linkurl:press conference;http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bigfoot-press-conference-an-early-r-2008-08-15 of the week, but it didn't reveal much in the way of evidence: Three Bigfoot enthusiasts announced today that a series of genetic tests performed on samples taken from a carcass they claim is a linkurl:Sasqu

Richard Marchase, the 93rd president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), who took office this week, said he plans to continue to focus on encouraging US voters in the upcoming November elections to consider science issues. "The upcoming Presidential election and the incoming administration present unique opportunities to highlight the importance of biomedical research on a national scale," he said in a press release. Marchase, the linkurl:vice president fo