Much attention has been devoted to how the gut influences the brain, traditionally via secreted hormones and, more recently, via the microbiome. Now, it turns out that during all that time, a direct neuronal connection using the classical neurotransmitter glutamate from the intestines to brain has been overlooked.

Researchers at the University of Chicago have demonstrated that by transplanting mice with skin cells expressing a cocaine-metabolizing enzyme, they were able to protect the animals from cocaine overdoses, and prevent drug-seeking behavior and relapse in addicted mice. 

Science prides itself on being a rational endeavor. But scientists, though they collectively skew more toward Dr. Spock than Dr. Phil as far as personality is concerned, are not immune to the often irrational ways in which our species makes decisions. Research is a cultural activity, and subject to the same cognitive shortcuts and cultural pressures as other cultural activities.

Many people wonder whether amyloid beta-targeting antibodies will ever prove to be a success in fighting Alzheimer's disease. Todd Golde is pretty sure that day will come.

Researchers from the University of Utah have shown that CRISPR/Cas9 cleavage ability was affected by chromatin structure; more surprisingly, perhaps, they have also shown that the cleavage ability of zinc finger nucleases were only minimally affected. 

In Margaret Atwood's 1988 novel "Cat's Eye," protagonist Elaine Risley describes the freedom of being a female painter in the male-dominated art world of the 1950s (and beyond): "Since it does not matter what I do, I can do whatever I want."

Biological sex, as well as gender in humans, affect the physiology of health and disease in major ways. Neurodevelopmental disorders, autoimmune disease, stroke – all of these affect men and women at different frequencies, and in different ways.