Bird behavior gives clues that can help solve human social, economic and health-related problems.
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The story of development of vaccines against rubella and other childhood diseases in the 1960s pits a daring young biologist against his world-famous boss, testing that used prisoners, intellectually disabled children, and other disenfranchised subjects, political roadblocks that nearly derailed the research, and other elements of high drama. Meredith Wadman covers it all in The Vaccine Race: Science, Politics and the Human Costs of Defeating Disease.
Current research has uncovered specific combinations of gut bacteria in mice that can predict conditions like irritable bowel disorder and multiple sclerosis. If those findings replicate in humans, they could change approaches to treatment.
Growing human organs in barnyard animals may solve the shortage in those needed for transplants.
Vaccines, commonly used to prevent diseases caused by viruses, could also be used in the near future to prevent opioid use disorder and other substance use disorders.
Measurements of the greenhouse gas methane near high-emission industrial sites in California have influenced regulatory changes and may outline a path for other states to follow, experts say.
Longtime ScienceWriters editor Lynne Friedmann has let us know that her last issue will be Winter 2018-19, as she moves on to her own book project. To say she will be missed is an understatement. Later this year, we will announce a search to fill her organized and thoughtful shoes.
To research and write Wildfire: On the Front Lines with Station 8, Heather Hansen followed the crew of a fire station near her Boulder CO home for two years. She went through training and testing to become a certified wildland firefighter, and joined the crew for emergency calls and planned burns. She provides here an insider’s view of the challenges of addressing increasingly frequent, severe, and costly conflagrations.