Sights set on universal vaccine

Statisticians set sights on observational studies.

tically signifi cant result. In a separate analysis, his team found that the main fi ndings of only one of six highly cited observational studies could be replicated; the conclusions from the other fi ve were refuted. “The combination of selec tive reporting and multiplicity of analysis undermines the credibility of epidemiological studies,” Ioannidis said at the an nual meeting of the American...

Stem cells set their sights on retinitis pigmentosa

Skin cells from a patient with a form of inherited blindness have been reprogrammed into retinal cells and successfully transplanted into mice.

Sights on cone geometry

JCB • VOLUME 174 • NUMBER 1 • 2006 4 R ather than merely point-to-point dispatches, synaptic messengers also make widespread broadcasts, as evidenced by Steven DeVries, Wei Li, and Shannon Saszik (Northwestern University, Chicago, IL). Messages are received both near and far, they show, to create transient and sustained responses. The cone presynaptic terminal is highly invaginated, with ribbon...

Setting our sights on the stars.

Nuclear physics. Proton guns set their sights on taming radioactive wastes.

the most deadly compounds on Earth. Spike a rat’s water with 10 parts per billion—the equivalent of 7 teaspoons of dioxin dissolved in an Olympic-sized swimming pool—and there’s a 50/50 chance that the rat will die of liver cancer. Yet even tinier concentrations of dioxins fed to rats inhibit tumors. The seemingly paradoxical findings have some scientists suggesting what would have been unthink...