Today, the NIH linkurl:announced;http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/jun2007/od-08.htm that it was establishing two working groups to examine its peer review process. That process has been under increased scrutiny recently, as study sections have needed to read more and more grant applications with every cycle. And with NIH funding flat, it's no longer good enough to be in the top 30% or so to get funded; in some study sections, it's close to 10%. So many scientists may find the examination welcome. In

Deputy Editor Ivan Oransky traveled to Washington and Oregon to learn more about the challenges that vets and others are facing in their efforts to save the endangered pygmy rabbit. 

On a trip to Washington and Oregon to learn more about the challenges that vets and others are facing in their efforts to save the endangered pygmy rabbit, deputy editor Ivan Oransky stopped in to see Michael Garner, the zoo pathologist who examined the pygmy rabbit evidence.

Undeterred by an outbreak, a band of vets and others make heroic efforts to save an endangered species. 

In December, following the November US midterm elections, Richard Gallagher, the editor of The Scientist, wrote a linkurl:hopeful editorial;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/36654/ on the future of stem cell funding in the US. In it, he suggested that the Senate was just one vote shy of the 67-33 vote it would need to overturn a Presidential veto on the bill. He may have been right. Yesterday, the Senate voted 63-34 to approve the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. The three senator

When biologists at the Wildlife Conservation Society in the Bronx heard last fall that a beaver was making New York City home for the first time in 200 years, they were understandably excited. Unlike some other biologists, however -- say, those who said they had seen an linkurl:ivory-billed woodpecker;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/84/ in 2005 -- the Bronx group made sure they caught Jose the beaver, on a video everyone could agree was actually a beaver, before linkurl:announcing it t

In December, I linkurl:wrote about the fact;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/39136/ that NIH researcher Thomas Walsh, who has faced scrutiny over funding he has received and failed to disclose from drug companies, had apparently failed to disclose conflicts of interest in a paper published in the January 1, 2007 Clinical Infectious Diseases. Now, it seems, journal editors are starting to catch up with stories reporting Walsh's conflicts. In the New England Journal of Medicine that lande

What's in your milk? The hypothesis: Hormones and growth factors in dairy increase cancer risk. By Ivan Oransky Related Articles Slideshow: From feed to bottle Milk: It's electric The cow whisperer Dairy economics: Milking blood from a stone Milk and human health: What's the state of the evidence linking milk to human disease? Infographic: What's in your milk? A selected list of hormones, growth factors and other substances found in an 8-ounce glass of milk.

Dairy economics: Milking blood from a stone A TIGHT SQUEEZE: Dairy farmer Steve Harrison checks on one of his cows during a December milking By Ivan Oransky Related Articles Feature: What's in your milk? Slideshow: From feed to bottle Milk: It's electric The cow whisperer Milk and human health: What's the state of the evidence linking milk to human disease? Infographic: What's in your milk? A selected list of hormones, growth factors and other subst

Credit: © H.C. ROBINSON / PHOTO RESEARCHERS, INC." /> Credit: © H.C. ROBINSON / PHOTO RESEARCHERS, INC. It might be considered the cat's revenge on the dog that chased it around the house and yard: Sometime in the late 1960s or 1970s, deadly feline parvovirus jumped from cats to dogs, becoming canine parvovirus. Then, in 1978, it started killing puppies at an alarming rate. "Most viruses go into a new host and just die out," says Laura Shackelton, a postdoc at Pennsylvania State Univ

Milk, from feed to bottleDeputy Editor Ivan Oransky traveled to dairy farms in Tennessee and Pennsylvania and a processing plant at Penn State to understand how milk is produced and processed. Click here for a slideshow of images from those trips. var FO = { movie:"http://www.the-scientist.com/supplementary/flash/43304/milk_ss.swf", width:"500", height:"500", majorversion:"8", build:"0", xi:"true"}; UFO.create(FO, "ufoDemo"); Please download the Adobe Flash Player t

http://www.the-scientist.com/2007/2/1/34/1/ What's in Your Milk The hypothesis: Steroid and peptide hormones in milk increase the risk of cancer. IVAN ORANSKY sifts through the data to find the truth. http://www.the-scientist.com/2007/2/1/20/1/ The cow whisperer http://www.the-scientist.com/2007/2/1/37/1/ Dairy economics: Milking blood from a stone http://www.the-scientist.com/2007/2/1/40/1/ Milk and human hea