Science & Medicine

In my work on rare diseases, I once met a young woman with an as-yet unnamed genetic disorder. She told me that, on Facebook, she had recently befriended someone living on the other side of the globe who had...

What defines the boundary between humans and animals? The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness states that “comparative research on this topic is naturally hampered by the inability of non-human animals,...

Who, if anyone, has the final word in science? Wudan Yan sits down with Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus of Retraction Watch to find out.

The intellectual rigors of my scientific training did not prepare me for the strong bouts of emotions that come with research that has immediate meaning in people’s lives.

The spread of Ebola is unsettling to many Americans, yet to date the U.S. FDA and the EMA (the FDA’s European counterpart) have not approved any medicines or vaccines to treat a potential global outbreak. In October 2014, both agencies released guidelines for companies to get accelerated approval for potential Ebola treatments; such emergency responses are unprecedented. Why did the FDA and EMA make these rules in the case of Ebola and how will they change the course of drug approval? Harvard University chemist Li Zha explains.

As a medical student, I'm perpetually absorbing knowledge taught to me...What all of these teachings share is a certainty that there are problems, and that medical students can learn – through lectures and textbooks and research – how to fix them. I'm still not clear why we're making the attribution of one thing as a problem, and another as the solution.

Interview by Ben Winterhalter When Dr. Steve Kay, the dean of USC Dornsife, finished his graduate work on genetics at UK’s University of Bristol, there were three words on his mind: “get to...