Download Printable Issue (PDF)

TB hideout

When it comes to hunkering down, tuberculosis bacteria choose a uniquely qualified lodging site in the body: stem cells in the bone marrow. Here the bacteria nestle, hassle-free, in a dormancy that can last decades before erupting to spread and kill millions of people each year. MORE . . .

IUD appeal

Intrauterine devices have been an unpopular form of birth control in developing countries. Negative perceptions and barriers to access mean that just 7.6 percent of women in developing countries use IUDs compared with 14.5 percent in developed ones. MORE . . .

Tailing stem cells

Repairing damaged hearts by infusing them with stem cells in the hope that these cells will replace worn-out or damaged tissue hasn’t yet met with clinical success. This might partly reflect faulty initial placement, says Sam Gambhir, PhD, MD. MORE . . .

Building begins

About 400 administrators, donors and community members gathered May 1 to watch as shiny red shovels were put to ceremonial dirt, marking the formal start of construction of the new Stanford Hospital. MORE . . .

Self-taught CPR

New research from Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital shows that a self-instructional kit can teach families CPR. MORE . . .

Not so sweet

Does eating sugar cause diabetes? For years, scientists have said "not exactly." A large epidemiological study suggests sugar also has a direct link to diabetes. MORE . . .

Let them eat dirt?

A team led by Mark Davis, PhD, found that over the course of our lives, key immune cells somehow acquire a “memory” of microbes that have never entered our bodies. MORE . . .

Drug searches

After taking a new medication you feel sweaty, so you go online and search for possible side effects. If there were multiple searches for the same information, could they serve as an early alert to previously unreported side effects? MORE . . .

Letter from the dean

More than DNA and medical care

THE BACKSTORY

Bad air