The start of a new year also prompts people to reflect on what they can do to improve their lives and the lives of others. This kind of thinking, however, began much earlier in 2001. The horrible events of Sept. 11 sent us spiraling into deep thought. How could such things happen, and why?
Since then, scientists have been considering more seriously than ever what they do, how they do it, and, particularly, how they communicate with nonscientists. In recent issues of The Scientist, we've reported on this effort in a number of articles, and we continue to do so in this issue. A common theme pervades: Scientists have the ability to change the world.
Our cover story by Ricki Lewis sets the stage. Recent studies of single nucleotide polymorphisms, the single-base sequence variants that make one person different from another, provide further evidence of how little genetic variation exists ...
