Despite low turnout, ideals and impassioned discussion dominate AIBS meeting.

Meeting draws hundreds to discuss latest findings and new focus for basic science.

Digital Vision President George W. Bush's decision to halt historic increases in the National Institutes of Health budget in fiscal year 2004 raises questions about how much the agency and the researchers it funds should expect to receive in the coming years. With a possible war on the horizon, the economy in a slump, and dreams of future federal surpluses fading, policymakers and scientists suggest that funding other science-related agencies may be a higher priority. Beltway observers also q

US Senate revisits issue of human cloning as Brownback introduces bill to ban it.

NSF report sets bold priorities for 10 years of interdisciplinary research.

Workshop seeks to set US global warming research agenda

Image: Getty Images The placebo effect baffles patients, confounds clinicians and frustrates drug developers. Until now, relatively little empirical evidence existed for the biological mechanisms that underlie the effect. But recently, researchers have begun approaching the challenge with methodological rigor. This new area of investigation, straddling basic and clinical realms, has evolved largely because of the novel, detailed window of observation offered by modern imaging technologies. "W

Photo: Courtesy of National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Stephen E. Straus is the director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), which was formally established in 1999. Prior to this appointment, he was chief of the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He recently chatted with reporters Brendan A. Maher and Eugene Russo. Q: Do you think there's lingering skepticism about NC

Reports support institute's continued exemption from competition for federal dollars.

Image: Anne MacNamara Cognition--memory, perception, and attention--is a prerequisite to success, an essential for a normal life. When it becomes impaired through illness or accident, a person's life is turned upside down. Existing memory enhancement drugs treat maladies that rob memory, but they are relatively ineffective and have significant side effects. Some researchers, realizing the huge market that an aging, memory-slipping population can generate, are working to modify some drugs curre

Image: Anne MacNamara Though not suffering from any particular ailment, a 70-year-old woman becomes frustrated with the forgetfulness that often accompanies old age. She consults her doctor, who prescribes a memory enhancer. Within weeks, she can find her car keys and phone her children without using the speed-dial. Overwhelmed with reading assignments, a college freshman contacts his physician. The doctor prescribes a cognition enhancer: The student aces his exams. A soldier fights next to

Town hall talks consider what integrity means and how to encourage more of it.