Three decades ago, it was widely believed that antibiotics had conquered bacteria. But as antibiotic-resistant bacteria have proliferated, pharmaceutical companies have searched for a broad-spectrum drug that could kill them quickly and safely without falling prey to bacterial resistance (See 'Renewing the Fight Against Bacteria' and 'Retracing Steps to Find New Antibiotics'). Now, in the first supramolecular approach to antibiotic drug design, the answer may be near. Researchers at The Scripps

Professor Evangelia Micheli-Tzanakou developed an experimental operation at Rutgers University that uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electrodes placed in the brain to reduce Parkinson's disease symptoms. Following surgery, patients walk and move without the usual unsteadiness that accompanies the disease. "The work is the most rewarding science I have done in my entire career," Micheli-Tzanakou says. The researcher also created the first computer-to-brain interface by combining computat

For this article, Jennifer Fisher Wilson interviewed Thanos Halazonetis, molecular biologist at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia; Tak Mak, departments of medical biophysics and immunology at University of Toronto; and Carol Prives, department of biological sciences at Columbia University in New York City. Data from the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that Hot Papers are cited 50 to 100 times more often than the average paper of the same type and age. N.H. Chehab et al., "Chk2/hCds1 f

One warning came in black-and-white in 1993: A U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment report projected that releasing 100 kilograms of aerosolized anthrax spores upwind of the U.S. capital could kill between 130,000 and 3 million people-a lethality at least matching that of a hydrogen bomb. Last year, a U.S. Justice Department exercise revealed that discharging pneumonic plague in Denver could create 3,700 or more cases, with an estimated 950 or more deaths within a week.1 Then, acco

In the first case of its kind, a jury earlier this year found a physician guilty of undermedicating a patient for pain. Claiming that such an action amounted to elder abuse and recklessness, the judge awarded $1.5 million to the patient's family. The precedent-setting case occurred after the passage of a Congressional provision, the Decade of Pain Control and Research, which went into effect Jan. 1. Signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton and sponsored by the American Academy of Pain Medi

By design, humans crave sweet-tasting foods, which supply necessary calories, and avoid bitter-tasting foods, which could be poisonous. But an individual's genetic makeup can acutely tune taste buds. Visitors to Linda Bartoshuk's Yale University lab can take a simple taste test to discover genetic influences on their food intake. The test measures sensitivity to the chemical 6-n-propyl-thiouracil, which is intensely bitter to acute taste buds, moderately bitter to a medium taste bud, and tastele

For this article, Jennifer Fisher Wilson interviewed Emmanuel Mignot, Center for Narcolepsy, department of psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, in Stanford, Calif., and Masashi Yanagisawa, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, department of molecular genetics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Data from the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that Hot Papers are cited 50 to 100 times more often than the average paper of the same type and age.

In a University of Maryland lab, psychologist Robert Dooling trains hundreds of small, colorful parakeets, zebra finches, and canaries to chirp on command. In about three weeks, the birds learn to mimic computer-produced sounds. Once the birds' vocalizations match the template, Dooling, who heads the university's comparative psychoacoustics laboratory, rewards them with seed. Dooling isn't interested in producing sweet songs, but rather in understanding what happens when these little creatures

Editor's Note: The second installment of this five-part series, on hearing, will appear in the Oct. 1 issue. Freshly cut lilac, fingernails on a chalkboard, just-baked apple pie, satin and silk, the vivid hues of a sunset. Such sensory stimuli shape people's lives. They arouse and change, elate or sadden, calm or agitate. They tap memories of yesterday or years ago. Information that travels through the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and skin define the world: what the senses don't perceive, the brain

Editor's Note: The second installment of this five-part series, on hearing, will appear in the Oct. 1 issue. Using gene therapy, scientists earlier this year reversed blindness in three dogs afflicted with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). The news excited the scientific world and popular press. LCA is a rare, inherited disease characterized by a severe loss of vision at birth. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, and University of Florida showed that injecting a

For this article, Jennifer Fisher Wilson interviewed Allan M. Weissman, a physician-scientist at the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research in Bethesda, Md.; Tony Hunter, professor of molecular and cell biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif.; and Claudio A. P. Joaziero, investigator at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) in San Diego, Calif. Data from the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that Hot Papers are cit

Needed: Molecular biologist. Requirements: CHO cell biologist with bioreactor experience of greater than 200 liters. Recruiters provide an antidote to life scientists who barrage biotechnology companies with resumes for every job posting: Niche hiring. By helping companies filter for a particular forte, recruiters quickly identify exactly what their clients want, such as a CHO cell biologist with bioreactor experience of greater than 200 liters. For a position like this, most scientists with o