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By Omnia Gohar SAN FRANCISCO—Science provides a universal stamp of approval. So it’s no wonder that some people use it to package non-scientific ideas to gain credibility. But when these ideas, which are mistakenly regarded as based on scientific method, are hailed by governments as great scientific breakthroughs, it’s no longer your average pseudoscience. This... Read More

By Setsen Altan-Ochir SAN FRANCISCO—You might be 97% human and 3%… tapeworm. At least that’s what researchers at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub learned when they sequenced one man’s DNA. Biochemist Joe DeRisi of the University of California, San Francisco, co-president of the Biohub, recounted this parasitic tale during a conversation with New York Times columnist... Read More

By Leah Rosenbaum SAN FRANCISCO—When the next big disease outbreak comes around, science journalists will have a key role to play in keeping the public informed. Two public health experts and a global health journalist reflected on that role during a panel called “The Challenges of Covering Infectious Disease Outbreaks,” held on 27 October at... Read More

By Sibusiso Biyela SAN FRANCISCO—Wilfred Ndifon of Cameroon solved a 70-year-old immunology conundrum. Bernie Fanaroff of South Africa established the Fanaroff-Riley classification of radio galaxies and quasars. And Noble Banadda of Uganda uses mathematical models to predict what will happen during the many disease outbreaks in Africa. Chances are you’ve never heard of these scientists,... Read More

By Kimber Price   SAN FRANCISCO—In any given field of biomedicine, researchers publish thousands of journal articles each year. How can a healthcare journalist keep up? She can’t. But given the most comprehensive databases and the most malleable search tools, any journalist can home in on the information most relevant to their needs. And for... Read More

By Anna Katrina Hunter BERKELEY, California—The more places we look, the more microbes we find. These tiny organisms—bacteria, Archaea, protozoa and fungi, to name a few—are essentially everywhere. Using recent advances in gene sequencing, scientists can now sample microorganisms directly in their natural environments to reveal their identities, rapidly and without targeting any particular type... Read More