If you've ever had doubts about the power of advertising, take a look at a recent study appearing in the Journal of American Medical Association.1 Richard Kravitz, from the University of California, Davis, and colleagues found that when "standardized patient" actors portraying depression visited doctors and asked for Paxil, 27% of them walked out with a prescription for the drug, compared to just 3% of patients who described the same symptoms but did not ask for Paxil. That finding should be con

As we write, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has just been formally installed as Pope Benedictus XVI.

In this issue of The Scientist, we bring you an article by Ricki Lewis on somatic cell nuclear transfer (p. 12) and a Vision by cloning pioneer Ian Wilmut on why research needs cloned human embryonic stem cells (p. 16). On the research front, things are progressing in leaps and bounds. But in other respects the stem cell phenomenon remains, to borrow Winston Churchill's famous observation on Russia, "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."Take the introduction of therapies. It's a riddl

ve questions such as, "Can women do math?" Women can do math, they can do science, and they can do engineering.

I'm concerned about the state of science teaching.

Professional sports are at the peak of their power.

The current frenzied attack on the teaching of evolution in public schools in school boards across the United States is to be welcomed.

Biology is getting bigger.

Many scientists in the United States who staunchly opposed a second presidential term for George W. Bush were probably in a somewhat less-than-festive mood during the inauguration in Washington earlier this month.

But remember, we don't actually sell our products.

The holidays seem to add a burden that pushes people over the edge.

Tell me a story.