At least for mammograms, part of the issue is also false positives. As we've started screening earlier and more often, we're starting to catch a lot of things that turn out to be either non-cancers, or pre-cancers that may not actually develop into cancer. These in turn can result in more invasive procedures (which…

Just want to add on to Rocza's comment on the bone marrow transplant. The transplant itself is still associated with significant side effects and risk, so I wouldn't think it'd be a viable option for most people unless they were not responding to drugs at all (an actual clinician can correct on me the risk…

To whomever selects the images for the stories! A blogger for SciAm raised an interesting point about imagery use in vaccination stories. Images of needles tend to evoke negative responses, whereas images of healthy people or scary images of diseases would be much more effective at giving a pro-vaccine message.

Three of the BRCA mutations are tested for as a part of the 23andme kit. It's $100, and they test for a whole slew of stuff including another inherited diseases, general disease risk, drug response, ancestry, and random traits. Would this be a viable option for you?

I also tan very easily and have always thought it confers some protection against melanoma development. And the biologist in me wanted to confirm =P. It seems like people of color really are at a much lower risk of developing skin cancer (http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/st…). One gene in particular, MC1R, which…

YES. The valley girl stereotype is what had me vote for Lisa Frank. I say things like "Dude...hella" dammit!

I actually got depressed reading that issue, and just made me want to leave academia more. Which then fed into feelings of guilt. Then more sadness. Then anger at the emotion spiral!

I have not heard anything about excess lipid elimination from my anatomy, physiology, or biochemistry courses where we learned about fat absorption and metabolism. I'm trying to find anything reliable that would support what you're saying, but I'm not finding anything from trusted sources (peer reviewed journals,…

All I have to add is it's awesome how much time and thought you put into your work! I would love if you were my manicurist!

I actually think that report had some believable criticisms of the published study they're trying to refute. But gah! I don't think they actually showed anything (I'm looking at their cited reported on the schoonscientific site)! They didn't show any quantifiable results, just stated summaries of their tests, and…

I wonder if this would just create "white smell" and not really smell all that distinct? Or maybe not if all fragrances tend to use the same odor families.

Ugh. This is me and I hate it. It can be the crappiest movie trailer in the world, but the minute the background music starts swelling and getting all dramatic, I'm crying. I swear, that specific orchestra crescendo must be designed to maximize the urge to cry. Hate it!

Being a non-white person means the "you look like someone I know" always has an uncomfortable undercurrent to it. Sometimes I really do look like their friend, but more often the only thing we have in common is race. And that's awkward.

I meant the skipping a generation, not the genetic component!

I believe this is a myth (sorry!). I also can't think of a way this would happen genetically if it runs on the mother's side of the family either.

They are thetans! Or whatever those evil spirits/energy the Scientologists claim dirty us.

Yeap, did the 9 hour difference with Sweden. I hated how when we did get to talk, one person would be on the brink of sleep. I had to constantly remind myself he wasn't being distant, just sleepy. The worst was when I would think of him and the first image to come up would be his screen name and not him. Ah, long…

He will always be Gary Hobson to me. Loved that show as a kid!

In my field (also life sciences) you would be considered a fool to present data at a conference before publication (or at least very close to it). It's a world of sharks out there...

I honestly think that should be grounds to fire her from this position. Even if it's one full of rote lab duties and no actual experiments/data analysis. How can you deny the whole scientific process and work in a science lab?!?! Argh.