News in a nutshell

This week's news includes the passing of a controversial CDC director, theories on how bin Laden's identity was confirmed by DNA analysis, a new technique for erasing memories, an age-based gender gap in NIH funding, and altruistic robots.

David Sencer linkurl:www.cdc.gov;http://www.cdc.gov/about/history/pastdirectors.htm

Former CDC director dies David Sencer, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1966 through 1977, died in Atlanta on Monday due to complications with heart disease, according to the linkurl:New York Times.;http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/us/04sencer.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss He was 86.Sencer coordinated the CDC's effort with international partners to successfully eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. "He said you couldn't protect US citizens from smallpox without getting rid of it in the world, and that was a new approach," William H. Foege, who succeeded Sencer as CDC director, told the NYT. "People in the field got all the praise, but he was the unsung hero."But Sencer is perhaps better...