WIKIMEDIA, KWZ

Selections from The Scientist’s reading list:

  • When researchers used the term “bad luck” to describe how people acquire random mutations that affect their risk of cancer, some scientists were immediately critical of the word choice. “We are aware that the idea that a major contributing factor to cancer is beyond anyone’s control can be jarring,” lead author Bert Vogelstein of Johns Hopkins Medicine said in a statement following news coverage of his team’s work. In six letters published in Science this week (February 4; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), critics again come down on the authors, suggesting the conclusions of their January publication—and its associated university press release—were somewhat misleading.
     
  • The New York Times this week covered the controversy surrounding how researchers test HIV drugs.
     
  • In Nature this week (February 4), Andrew Bradbury of the Los Alamos National...

Interested in reading more?

The Scientist ARCHIVES

Become a Member of

Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member?