Breaking news, and ground-breaking events

Breaking bad news.

“Breaking news” from spermatids

During the haploid phase of spermatogenesis, spermatids undergo a complex remodeling of the paternal genome involving the finely orchestrated replacement of histones by the highly-basic protamines. The associated striking change in DNA topology is characterized by a transient surge of both single- and double-stranded DNA breaks in the whole population of spermatids which are repaired before spe...

Late-breaking News

It has been quite a while since I’ve written one of these columns. Our production team (whose names may be found on the back of the title page) has grown to include some new members. Most notable of these has been Karl Berry, who has provided technical input, editorial input, as well as having gone out and “beat the bushes” to obtain new and interesting articles. The major problem over the past...

Breaking Bad News

Even the most skilled physician knows that conveying bad news to a patient or family can be one of the most arduous aspects of health care. Historically, breaking bad news is a skill that has generally been under-emphasized in training programmes. Critical care physicians are commonly faced with the difficult task of breaking bad news, often in dramatic, emotional and unexpected situations. Bre...

Soil mechanics: breaking ground.

In soil mechanics, student's models are classified as simple models that teach us unexplained elements of behaviour; an example is the Cam clay constitutive models of critical state soil mechanics (CSSM). 'Engineer's models' are models that elaborate the theory to fit more behavioural trends; this is usually done by adding fitting parameters to the student's models. Can currently unexplained be...