Scientists have not only made the production of induced pluripotent stem cells much more efficient, but also have made them just as capable as embryonic stem cells of being able to produce any cell type.
A study about mutations that might confer benefit to high-altitude Sherpas is being announced as an example of evolution, but variation within species is not Darwinian evolution.
The headlines for some scientific news stories might leave philosophers of science wagging their heads. Few, though, are the reporters willing to call something really dumb, or at least questionable—especially if it appears to support evolution.
Patients are encouraged to seek only "evidence-based" treatments for disease, but a look behind the scenes of clinical trials reveals some of the same human foibles that plague any science: shortcomings in honesty and transparency.
Induced pluripotent stem cells allow researchers to ethically create any cell type from an adult cell, raising hopes for regenerative medicine. Eyebrows started to raise recently, though, when labs grew brains with them and turned others into sperm and egg cells.
The gold rush is on! Designs in the living world are inspiring technologies that are superior to old fashioned human ingenuity, and environmentally friendly, too.
New genetic studies confirm the existence of a "Y-Chromosome Adam" and "Mitochondrial Eve" but, contrary to earlier analyses, place them in the same time frame.
Epigenetics has become a hot topic in biology. There are players "above DNA"– some heritable – that may be more important than the genetic code itself.