Gene blues

What determines a person's behaviour through the vicissitudes of life: genes, environment or both? There are many who believe that genetic …

Bittersweet medicine

The Laboratory Revolution in Medicine Edited by Andrew Cunningham and Perry Williams Price: Not stated

Inducing cell death to fight cancer

Some scientists claim tumours might be formed because cells refuse to die -- and not because they multiply at a high rate.

Foetal tissue can cure terminal diseases

Tissue taken from aborted foetuses and implanted into the bodies of patients suffering from several incurable diseases has shown encouraging results

AIDS drug trial leaves bitter taste behind

AIDS victims the world over are dismayed by the discovery that taking azidothymidine as soon as HIV infection is confirmed does not delay death …

Caffeine could fight cancer

Research shows that the once-dreaded caffeine can be used in the battle against certain cancers

The good that smoking does

Studies suggest smoking protects against diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, but many scientists and funding agencies are not convinced.

Cocktail aid

An exorbitant wonder 'double-drug' developed for improving survival chances from AIDS may elude needy patients in Africa and Asia

A matter of the mind

Mind-body medicine: in the realm of the possible but wholly inexplicable, this loose curative system has more takers every day

Is HIV harmless?

A group of scientists believe that HIV does not cause the dreaded Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

Medicine malady

A new study indicates that microbes can develop resistance even if the intake of antibiotics is minimised

Thought therapy

Spiritual healing is in. New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences is introducing it in its departments. Companies across USA are using …

Smooth operators

Tiny snake-like robotic appendages that worm into the human body and perform complicated operations. That's surgery of the future

Keep talking

Once the electropalatograph hits the market, that's what people with speech problems will do easily: talk

Molly, the girl?

Science is probably going to ensure that people will be cloned eventually as was Dolly, the sheep?

Cancerous route

Better cancer drugs may be on the anvil with researchers finding a cell protein that helps cancer spread

From the blurbs

Medical Negligence and the Law in India, Duties, Responsibilities, Rights by Tapas Kumar Kole, OUP, Rs 950

Unravelling the Bombay plague

Room 000: Narratives Of The Bombay Plague is the story of the plague that killed thousands in Mumbai in the late 1890s. Very little was known …

"Inputs of social scientists are critical"

John R Seager, research director, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa, speaks to Atanu Sarkar on interdisciplinary aspects of …

Hunting for cure

By identifying the proteins with which the gene responsible for Huntington's disease reacts, researchers are optimistic of finding an antidote …

Muscling in

Primary muscle cells - myoblasts - can act as synthesising agents for proteins. transplanted in the body of a patient, myoblasts could help in …

The long and short of it

The efforts of an American biologist might give science something to remember him by. Working with fruitj1ies and the CREB gene, Timothy Tully is …

Stent stunts

An improved version of a device that keeps blood vessels inflated -after cholesterol deposits have been ballooned out of them - has been …

Eyeless in

Genetic engineering enables the discovery of a gene responsible for the development of the eye, suggesting new possibilities of treating defects …

Balloon benefits

Though laser seemed to be technically more advanced as a tool for removing heart blockages, a recent study shows that it cannot be trusted completely