News-Letter

The Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator in Switzerland that opened to much fanfare last week, has been shut down for at least two months due to a helium leak. Although this accident represents a setback in groundbreaking research to understand the basic structure of the Universe, scientists are not concerned about the long-term implications of the damage.… Post the First Comment

How can scientists study evolution in action? Given the length of time it takes most species to produce new generations, evolution can only be examined by inference: by studying the remnants of evolution left over in our anatomy or in the fossil record. For bacteria, which reproduce rapidly, scientists can conduct lab experiments to study how the organisms change in response to different challenges.… Post the First Comment

HIV is adept at evading the human body's natural defenses, sneaking into cells and remaining there without detection, often for years. Scientists are studying this initial process, when the virus first infects cells, with hopes of learning how to block it.… Post the First Comment

In the field of developmental biology, and now recently in stem cell biology, it has long been thought that small molecules called morphogens control the fate of cells. These morphogens decide when an embryonic stem cell becomes a muscle cell or brain cell or any other type of cell.… Post the First Comment