Researchers have discovered how the cold sore virus hides in the body, which may be the key to a permanent cure
A forest of blue-green algae is choking the coastal waters near the Chinese port city of Qingdao, causing problems and threatening Olympic events scheduled there
Oliver Smithies speaks fondly of Danish potatoes and beautiful equations. More on the potatoes later. Smithies is credited with helping to revolutionize genetic studies. For more than half a century his passion for science and tireless experimentation have revealed some of DNA's best-kept secrets and he's not about to stop.
Scientists say they have found dinosaur tracks on the Arabian Peninsula, a discovery they say may shed more light on where dinosaurs lived, their migration patterns and how they evolved they way they did
Sandwiched between two nondescript commercial buildings in a vacant lot squats what looks like a long, plastic-shrouded greenhouse. Hanging nearby is a cluster of five-foot-long plastic sacks bulging with green slime that resemble intravenous drip bags for the Jolly Green Giant. It doesn't look like groundbreaking technology, but these scum bags in Cambridge, Mass., just might help save the planet.
Thirty years ago, the last time the world faced an oil crisis, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) launched a program to analyze the potential algae had as a renewable fuel. It didn't take it long to realize algae was a godsend.
Why do some smokers get cancer and others don't? Scientists have discovered two genetic variants that may be the reason
Texas may be best known for "Big Oil." But the oil that could some day make a dent in the country's use of fossil fuels is small. Microscopic, in fact: algae. Literally and figuratively, this is green fuel.
A groundbreaking new study helps explain why some people succumb to post-traumatic stress disorder while others don't
I am one of the most avid sports fans you'll find," Se-Jin Lee says. It's true. He'll watch anything. Basketball. Football. Fútbol. Billiards on channel seven-hundred-whatever. As a graduate student in the '80s Lee used to sit in his car in the driveway with the radio on to listen to the games of faraway baseball teams. Even now, in his lab at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, he easily rattles off the NCAA basketball tournament winners in order from 1964 to 2007. And, like anyone who values fair competition these days, he's disturbed by the issue of performance-enhancing drugs in sports.
Researchers have discovered how the cold sore virus hides in the body, which may be the key to a permanent cure
A forest of blue-green algae is choking the coastal waters near the Chinese port city of Qingdao, causing problems and threatening Olympic events scheduled there
Oliver Smithies speaks fondly of Danish potatoes and beautiful equations. More on the potatoes later. Smithies is credited with helping to revolutionize genetic studies. For more than half a century his passion for science and tireless experimentation have revealed some of DNA's best-kept secrets and he's not about to stop.
Scientists say they have found dinosaur tracks on the Arabian Peninsula, a discovery they say may shed more light on where dinosaurs lived, their migration patterns and how they evolved they way they did
Sandwiched between two nondescript commercial buildings in a vacant lot squats what looks like a long, plastic-shrouded greenhouse. Hanging nearby is a cluster of five-foot-long plastic sacks bulging with green slime that resemble intravenous drip bags for the Jolly Green Giant. It doesn't look like groundbreaking technology, but these scum bags in Cambridge, Mass., just might help save the planet.
Thirty years ago, the last time the world faced an oil crisis, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) launched a program to analyze the potential algae had as a renewable fuel. It didn't take it long to realize algae was a godsend.
Why do some smokers get cancer and others don't? Scientists have discovered two genetic variants that may be the reason
Texas may be best known for "Big Oil." But the oil that could some day make a dent in the country's use of fossil fuels is small. Microscopic, in fact: algae. Literally and figuratively, this is green fuel.
A groundbreaking new study helps explain why some people succumb to post-traumatic stress disorder while others don't
I am one of the most avid sports fans you'll find," Se-Jin Lee says. It's true. He'll watch anything. Basketball. Football. Fútbol. Billiards on channel seven-hundred-whatever. As a graduate student in the '80s Lee used to sit in his car in the driveway with the radio on to listen to the games of faraway baseball teams. Even now, in his lab at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, he easily rattles off the NCAA basketball tournament winners in order from 1964 to 2007. And, like anyone who values fair competition these days, he's disturbed by the issue of performance-enhancing drugs in sports.
For years, political scientists assumed our political leanings came from the way we were raised and the company we keep. You're a screaming liberal? Must be because you were raised in a household full of screaming liberals. You're an arch conservative? Must be because of that college you went to.
Craig Venter has built the first man-made genome. Soon those genes may cause a cell to come alive. This tiny organism will be Venter's own -- and that's just the start
Food from healthy clones of cattle, swine and goats is as safe as food from non-cloned animals, the Food and Drug Administration said in a report released Tuesday.
In a long-awaited and controversial decision, the Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that food products derived from cloned cattle, swine, goats, sheep and their offspring are safe enough to enter the U.S. food supply.
A rare genetic variation dramatically raises the risk of developing autism, a large study showed, opening new research targets for better understanding the disorder and for treating it
As early as Tuesday, the FDA is likely to issue U.S. food producers an approval to begin selling meat and dairy from cloned animals and their offspring.
It's the season for giving and receiving -- yes, of course, gifts and food and holiday cheer, but also something you probably don't want: germs.
Genes that regulate the brain's sensitivity to dopamine -- a chemical involved in addiction and motivation -- can affect the ability to learn from our errors
Yellowstone's geysers and vents may hold the keys to pharmaceutical and industrial breakthroughs. But should the park profit from it?
Ever wanted to be a new you? Recent developments in cloning mean that day might be possible without therapy, a new diet or fitness regime.
Students at a high school in Virginia prepared Thursday for the funeral of a popular classmate, the victim of a deadly drug-resistant strain of bacteria that has turned up in schools across the country recently.
By now, you've seen the headlines about MRSA, the killer staph virus. Yes, it can be deadly, but it can also be treated
The market for diagnosing and preventing "superbug" staph infections could grow dramatically over the next few years, according to industry experts.
Biotechs and big pharma are betting billions on an experimental technology that could be a quantum leap for healthcare, or just a big bust.
Biologist-entrepreneur J. Craig Venter is part of a new kind of scientific explorer whose uncharted territory was his own genes.
British authorities ruled Wednesday that research using animal eggs to create human stem cells could go forward in principle.
Figuring out a way to turn wood pulp, sugar cane, wheat straw and other biomass products into ethanol is the easy part. Figuring out a way to do it economically and efficiently is where it gets tricky.
It's a sweet time for honeybees in the rolling hills of eastern Pennsylvania, and the ones humming around Dennis vanEngelsdorp seem too preoccupied by the blooming knapweed nearby to sting him as he carefully lifts the top off their hive. VanEngelsdorp, Pennsylvania's state apiarist, spots signs of plenty within: honeycomb stocked with yellow pollen, neat rows of wax hexagons housing larval bees, and a fertile queen churning out eggs.
In 1913, the New Jersey poet and critic Joyce Kilmer wrote "Trees," a poem which concludes with this simple rhyme:
The soil on Mars may contain microbial life, according to a new interpretation of data first collected more than 30 years ago.
Roche Holding AG has signed a deal worth up to $1 billion with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., giving it access to the U.S. firm's skills in the new science of RNA interference.
The remains of a giant, birdlike dinosaur as tall as the formidable tyrannosaur have been found in China, a surprising discovery that indicates a more complicated evolutionary process for birds than originally thought
A genetic mutation that raises the risk of breast cancer is found in up to 60 percent of U.S. women, making it the first truly common breast cancer susceptibility gene, researchers report.
A procedure that replaces faulty genes in the blind might hold cures for all kinds of genetic diseases and for cancer
Scientists have unlocked the genetic code that could pave the way to a new generation of highly effective cancer drugs with none of the painful side effects of existing treatments.
Wandering through the aisles of the local grocery store, one can't help but notice the number of everyday food products that now feature some added health benefit.
One of the many joys of the World Cup is engaging in a 30-day frenzy of flag-hugging nationalism. Many Americans root for more than one team: the U.S. and the country of their ancestors. If you're ...
A new breed of nanobots is being designed to assist doctors by going where no surgeon or technology has gone before.
The background: Bacterial infections that were once easily treated with antibiotics like penicillin have gained frightening resistance during the past few decades - despite the mistaken assurance by the U.S. surgeon general in 1969 that "the war on infectious disease has been won."
A daily dose of good bacteria may be just what your doctor orders. Bacteria may sound unappetizing, but they're now being sold under the name "probiotic." From yogurt to smoothies to cereal, products that contain probiotics are becoming more popular at the local grocery store. CNN Medical Correspondent Judy Fortin spoke with Marisa Moore, a registered dietician and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, about the pros and cons of probiotics.
The FDA announced a report Thursday finds meat and milk from adult cattle, pigs and goats and their offspring are safe for human consumption, although the agency is still asking producers not to introduce food from clones or their offspring into the food supply.
Last year, Hwang Woo-suk was Korea's scientific Superman. He had three institutes, a stamp created in his honor, and, over the years, $60 million at his disposal. His face was plastered on buses in...
When it comes to colds, flu, stomach bugs, and ear infections, everyone has a theory. Some have been passed down through generations, or are based on outdated science. A few just seem like common sense. But whatever their origin, many just aren't true. The facts behind these myths:
Researchers say they have developed an enhanced map of the human genome that could yield breakthroughs in understanding the genetic origins of illnesses such as heart disease, Alzheimer's and various forms of cancer.
(Time.com) -- You don't have to be a biologist or an anthropologist to see how closely the great apes -- gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans -- resemble us.
As bizarre as it may seem, the sample jars brimming with cloudy, reddish rainwater in Godfrey Louis's laboratory in southern India may hold, well, aliens.
Your job may be making you sick, literally. And it may not be the mystery meat in the cafeteria. In today's Five Tips we're going to tell you how to combat the office germs.
Genes are the basic building blocks of life, and in studying them genetic science is giving us the ability to adapt and alter ourselves fundamentally, providing unprecedented opportunities to improve on nature.
Little Madison Sukenik crawls around her Fort Lauderdale home, grabbing everything in sight, putting much of it in her mouth.
It's been quite a week for Sirna Therapeutics -- and it's still only Monday.
Domagoj Vucic didn't come to Genentech for the rich stock options or the free cappuccino or the made-to-order sushi or the parties every Friday night. He came from the University of Georgia seven y...
Dr. When most kids were learning to ride bikes, little Frank J. Rauscher III was learning the ins and outs of a cancer research lab.
Disgraced South Korean cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk has apologized for publishing fake research on human stem cells, but said he was deceived by researchers at another lab.
One day after a panel investigating the work of disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk found that he faked claims of cloning human embryonic stem cells, the Seoul National University has issued a public apology.
A panel investigating the work of disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk has found that he faked claims of cloning human embryonic stem cells, in what could be the biggest cover-up in modern scientific history.
Some of the biggest medical discoveries have come in the last 25 years -- everything from Viagra to laser vision correction.
The EPA said Wednesday that initial findings from New Orleans floodwater sampling indicate high levels of E. coli and coliform bacteria as well as lead.
WHEN SENATE MAJORITY LEADER Bill Frist backed a bill to expand the number of federally funded stem-cell lines a few weeks ago, he laid claim to something increasingly rare in America's polarized "e...
Deep in the bowels of Monsanto's sprawling headquarters' research complex, in a room protected by a heavy steel door, 672 corn seedlings repose in plastic trays. The temperature in the room, known ...
A breakthrough in human embryonic stem cell research by scientists in South Korea has been hailed as ground-breaking, with the potential to fight a host of ailments, but some people have raised ethical concerns.
BACK WHEN HE WAS A GRAD STUDENT IN 1977, Paul Ewald came down with an intestinal bug. He'd been doing research at the University of Washington at Seattle on the social behavior of sparrows. But the...
THIS IS MODERN MEDICINE'S MILLION-DOLLAR question: Does a given human's DNA--yours, for instance--contain a mutation that researchers know or suspect is related to disease? One of many firms settin...
DARLENE NIPPER GOT ALMOST NOTHING BUT awful news in the early weeks of September 2003. First she learned that the two-centimeter lump in her left breast--the one her gynecologist had responded to b...
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BOUNDING UP THE STAIRS AT THE BEIJING Genomics Institute, Darren Cai, vice president of business development, pulls a flight ahead of me before I realize that the usual pace here is close to a spri...
Genetic sequencing—the science of mapping the location and function of genes found in a strand of DNA—has been hailed for its potential to fight disease and save lives. Yet many consumers may get t...
Absent-mindedly stroking his Rip Van Winkle beard, Aubrey de Grey recalls when he first realized how humans might halt the process of growing old. His "Eureka!" came at a research meeting in Califo...
The federal government has approved a test that promises to make it easier and faster for local agencies to determine if a person is infected with anthrax.
Most dinosaurs were incinerated in a matter of hours after an asteroid impact 65 million years ago kicked up a global rain of broiling debris, according to a new study.
It's strange to think that I can still remember the smell after all this time. The year was 1978, not long after my 15th birthday, and I'd sneaked into my brother's bedroom. There, on a wall of she...
The moment was vintage Craig Venter: Biology's bad boy stood before a crowd of reporters in Washington, D.C., trumpeting his latest achievement, with a beaming Spencer Abraham, the U.S. Secretary o...
The announcement by South Korean scientists that they had created human embryos by cloning and extracted embryonic stem cells has raised concerns around the world.
South Korean researchers reported Thursday they have created human embryos through cloning and extracted embryonic stem cells, the universal cells that scientists expect will result in breakthroughs in medical research.
It's not just computer viruses that you should worry about at work.
You can't help feeling uncertain. As sure as the sun rises, alarmist morning headlines report illness and disease. Then you breathe that hazy metro air, work to exhaustion, and hear that a friend j...
At first glance, genomics startup Perlegen Sciences seems a world apart from Google, the celebrated Internet search-engine company. But a closer look shows striking parallels: Both are Silicon Vall...
As science celebrates the decoding of the human genome, the man whose invention made it all possible isn't cheering. At the moment, in fact, he's tapping intently on a laptop in his office, trying ...
Advances that win Nobel Prizes are uncommon, ones worth billions of dollars are even scarcer, and those yielding both are blue-moon rare. In biotech there have been just two blue moons, both in the...
Lee Hood: the man who automated biology
Germs. The word conjures up pure evil--killer microbes resistant to every available antibiotic, scratches that become grisly wounds when invaded by flesh-eating Streptococci, terrorists potentially...
The manager of a truck plant faces hard physical limits to how many vehicles his factory can make in a year. But in the blossoming industry of biotech drugs, where production takes place in a ferme...
With genomics stocks deep in the tank, it seems fair to put a pointed question to Eric Lander, gene science's go-to guy for the big picture: Hasn't the value of his field been way overstated? Lande...
First it was kidney failure and diabetes. Then, for a 40-year-old Michigan woman this June, the diabetes led to foot ulcers and gangrene. One toe had to be amputated, then a second, then a third.
On Dec. 17, Amgen, the flagship company of the biotechnology world, closed the biggest merger in the sector's history. It agreed to pay $16 billion to buy rival Immunex, primarily for the right to ...
Europeans have earned a reputation as biotech trailblazers; their scientists produced the first test-tube baby, discovered the AIDS virus, and launched the science of cloning. Yet when it comes to ...
Pills can be a tough addiction to kick. Especially Big Pills. You know the ones we're talking about: the Mercks, the Pfizers, the Schering-Ploughs. Such feel-good stocks have long been the financia...
Picture prizefighter Hector "Macho" Camacho showing up at high tea. That was the effect one day in May as Bill Haseltine, CEO of Human Genome Sciences, hopped out of his limo at a Washington, D.C.,...
You can't blame John Todd for seeming a little cranky these days. The University of Cambridge geneticist has spent years searching for the 20 or so genes thought to play a role in type 1 diabetes. ...
A decade ago, in a publicity stunt to convince the world that mad cow disease couldn't infect humans, British Agriculture Minister John Gummer fed his 4-year-old daughter a hamburger on the steps o...
Last year Celera Genomics and its president, J. Craig Venter, shook up the scientific world by successfully sequencing the human genome faster than anyone--even Venter--had predicted. But when the ...
In the past few years Rockville, Md., a quiet suburb of Washington, D.C., has become one of the biggest hubs of biotech research, especially in the cutting-edge field of genomics. Why Rockville? Th...
Africa, the birthplace of AIDS, may also be the place where it begins to die. That's the hope behind an African trial of a promising vaccine. The trial is an early test of a startling new approach-...
The death of nine-year-old Michael Adams-Conroy didn't seem at first like a signal event in medicine. It seemed like homicide.
You won't find many beakers and Bunsen burners in J. Craig Venter's labs, where 50 scientists recently sequenced 3.12 billion letters of the human genetic code. Instead, Celera Genomics, with its S...
First, a confession: Weeks ago I grew weary of the relentless roll of journalistic drums about the imminent decoding of the human genome. Sure, it's biology's moon shot. True, it will pave the way ...
Loss threatens young biotech companies in more forms than any other kind of business. Investors can lose millions when a promising drug fails to work or funds run out before testing is complete. Re...
Biotech stocks have been as hot--and volatile--in recent months as Internet stocks. From last July to February 2000, the American Stock Exchange biotech index soared 220%. Protein Design Labs leape...
Initial public offerings are busting out in the biotechnology industry like desert flowers after rain. "We'll see as many as 50 biotech IPOs over the next several months," estimates Steven Burrill,...
In 1998 biotechnology's jauntiest visionary, J. Craig Venter, stunned fellow scientists by declaring that a company he was forming would decode human DNA's sequence of chemical building blocks by t...
A breakthrough by a group of researchers in Philadelphia may help reinvigorate the struggling field of gene therapy and portend a future in which Just For Men hair color is history.
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