San Diego area researchers hampered by logistics, but few suffered severe losses

New technologies melding biology with machines create new dilemmas

Courtesy of Michiel Vos, Max Planck Institute, Tübingen, Germany  FRUIT FOR THE HUNGRY: Myxococcus fruiting bodies emerge from soil particles in response to starvation. Approximately 100,000 cells aggregate and communicate via chemical signals to form the bodies, and a portion of the population differentiates into stress-resistant spores. Most microbiologists consider used flasks, laden with splotches of colonizing bacteria, simply more dishes to wash. Paul Rainey sees more. For Rai

Broad strategy aims to change the way institutes orchestrate medical research

Team leaving Hopkins to create expanded institute for 'comprehensive' biopreparedness research

Courtesy of Gary Churchill  THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE FILTERED: At left is a poor quality microarray with problems due to background contamination. At right is a good quality microarray with well defined spots and low background intensity. Data preprocessing methods can normalize and filter data derived from such images, which may make it impossible to detect problems apparent in the raw image data. Since their rise to fame in the mid 1990s, microarrays have been both lauded and critici

Responses ranged from playfully innovative to panic over frozen samples and lab animals' health

NAS panel suggests organizational modifications to improve NIH efficiency

Science group is launching beauty pageant for biological experiments

Symposium explores conflicts of interest and the extent of industry influence on scientific findings

Cancer researchers hold slimmed-down annual gathering as money issues linger

Biochemist Robert D. Wells lays out priorities for the biomedical research advocacy organization