I love a good bit of unintentional levity. One of my favorite discoveries is when an interviewee -- one of our own or even in another publication -- has a name that fits their field just a little too well. Now, call me a suspicious Aloysius, but when it happens twice in a week, in the same publication, I start getting wary. Today Jane Brody for the __New York Times__ writes on the linkurl:important exercises;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/19/health/19brody.html for maintaining health in aging

Dull and non-controversial: That?s how bioethics pundit Art Caplan described the focus of a panel last night at the Philadelphia?s Franklin Institute titled ?Science, Faith and Darwin,? set to accompany their Darwin exhibit running through the end of December. Caplan meant to be wry, but with a panel (and seemingly an entire auditorium) full of folks in agreement, no sparks flew. That?s not to say there wasn?t star power. Judge John E. Jones who presided over the Kitzmiller v. Dover case over

You might have noticed last week, the launch of linkurl:JoVE, the journal of visualized experiments;http://www.myjove.com/index.stt which gives quick, free, video how-to?s on laboratory protocols. As someone who loves techniques but hates reading dry materials and methods sections, this is a darned neat idea. Blogger Pimm tracked its linkurl:web awareness here,;http://pimm.wordpress.com/2006/11/30/jove-stats-blogosphere-and-nature-news-traffic-before-official-launch/ and apparently it spiked a

How it Works: Real Time PCR Brendan Maher The instrumentation is basic: a thermal cycler for amplification, a light source for excitation of fluorescent probes (see chemistries below), a camera for recording, and a computer to control the instrument and record data. Increasingly sophisticated instruments, such as those capable of multiplex experiments, are becoming affordable in academic labs. The light source in the Applied Biosystems 7500 (represented here) is a simple haloge

I just received a copy of __The Strangest Song__, a linkurl:book;http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781591024781&itm=1 about Gloria Lenhoff, a 51 year old woman with William?s Syndrome whose father Howard left the biochemistry bench to study cognitive neuroscience and foster his daughter?s remarkable musical abilities. I wrote about linkurl:Howard?s work in 2001,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/12726 and I remember how driven he was in getting his

In situ hybridization showing ERβ expression in prostatic epithelium (near left) and ovarian granulosa cells (far left). Below is a notebook page describing the phenotypes of ERβ knockout mice. Credit: IN SITU IMAGES: © 1996 THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES / NOTEBOOK: COURTESY OF JAN-ǺKE GUSTAFSSON" />In situ hybridization showing ERβ expression in prostatic epithelium (near left) and ovarian granulosa cells (far left). Below is a notebook page describing the phenotyp

Does early detection work? __The New York Times__ today posts a linkurl:story about Claudia Henschke,;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/31/health/31prof.html a radiology professor at Weill Cornell Medical College who?s pushing for routine CT scans to detect lung cancer earlier. The phrases are so well trodden, they?re often taken at face value: ?We?re lucky we caught it in time,? or ?If only we?d found it sooner.? The problem with simply accepting that earlier detection means better survival i

For someone forecasting Armageddon, linkurl:E.O. Wilson;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/14350/ is surprisingly optimistic. The Harvard professor, along with Harvard divinity professor Harvey Cox spoke at the Philadelphia Free Library last night with a message of hope ? not just for rescuing the humanity from its path of self- and planet-destruction, but for doing so through a deeper communication between science and religion. Wilson?s latest book, __The Creation__, calls upon the

Roger Kornberg of Stanford University presumably got the call from Stockholm at 3am in California. He won a solo Nobel in Chemistry for elucidating the mechanics of transcription via the crystallization of RNA polymerase. He?s the third American life scientist to pull down a Nobel this year and the second to win the prize in his family. Father, Arthur Kornberg won the 1959 prize in Physiology or Medicine for elucidating DNA synthesis.

http://www.the-scientist.com/supplementary/flash/24912/1.html Click here to view diagram _blank Credit: ILLUSTRATION: ANDREW MEEHAN" />http://www.the-scientist.com/supplementary/flash/24912/1.html Click here to view diagram _blank Credit: ILLUSTRATION: ANDREW MEEHAN Related Articles A Master Regulator in the Brain Meeting of the Minds Singing in the Bird Brain Patch Clamping Unhooked Ten Steps to Better Patch Clamping Paul Greengard and Per Svenningson discuss DARPP-

The photo shoot for this month?s linkurl:feature on the postdoc glut;http://www.the-scientist.com/2006/9/1/42/1/ was obviously a spoof. At least that?s what we thought. Standing on the median of Broad street with a sign that says ?Have PhD, Will Work For Food,? Kevin Duffy expected to garner a few stares, but not much else. ?Some guy gave me his business card,? he told me. Someone walking on the set of the shoot asked what they were doing. Even though Kevin told them they were working on an

After issuing linkurl:two post-press corrections;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/24413/ to the release notes for a headline grabbing linkurl:news story about human embryonic stem cells;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/24363/ last week, Ruth Francis, __Nature__?s senior press officer said she got a lot of calls and emails from editors and journalists. They issued the second correction Friday night about 9pm Francis? time, just before a three day weekend which was bound to rais