The invisible genome
Epigenetics explains why the “junk” DNA in our genome is not so junk after all.
Unpublished
Selected articles
Lawinenschuts aus dem all?
Bei instabiler Schneedecke genügt ein Skifahrer, um eine Katastrophe auszulösen. Satellitentechnik soll künftig helfen, Risikozonen aufzuspüren.
Spektrum der Wissenschaft (German edition of “Scientific American”), Jan 2006
Digital Revolutionary: Interview with Leonardo Chiariglione
The father of MP3 recently established the Digital Media Project which aims to formulate a new standard for digital audio and video. If things proceed according to plan, the media world will never be the same.
Scientific American, May 2004 Read it
Technorati Tags: MP3, Scientific American
Fighting the White Death
Scientists turn to satellites for help in predicting avalanches. Reporting from the Svalbard Island
Scientific American, February 16, 2004 READ IT
Hand-held Scanner Could Detect Tumours
It sounds too good to be true, but two independent studies appear to show that tumours can be detected by scanning people with a hand-held device similar to the metal detectors used to frisk airline passengers.
New Scientist, June 16, 2003 [READ IT]
Technorati Tags: tumours, puppy, science communication
A brave new step for medicine as an organ is treated outside the body
FOR the first time, cancer has been treated by removing an organ from the body, giving it radiotherapy and then re-implanting it. The out-of-body operation allows doctors to administer high doses of radiation to widespread tumours without affecting other organs.
New Scientist 21 December 2002
Mind the Gap
Is the U.S. starting to lose its edge in basic research?
Scientific American, November 2002 [READ IT]
Technorati Tags: research communication, research management, science communication, science journalism, Scientific American
Quiet Celebrity: Interview with Judah Folkman
The life of Judah Folkman took an unexpected turn one morning in May 1998. That day, a front-page article in the New York Times announced that Folkman, a professor at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, had discovered two natural compounds, angiostatin and endostatin, that dramatically shrunk tumors in mice by cutting the cancer’s blood supply…
Scientific American, November 04, 2002 [READ IT]
Technorati Tags: endostatin, angiogenesis, tumor, tumour
Father of the Impossibile Children: a Profile of Would-be-Cloner Severino Antinori
A few hundred yards away from the Vatican, a fertility clinic has become both the top destination for desperate couples and the pope’s most troublesome neighbor. Ignoring nearly universal opprobrium, Severino Antinori presses ahead with plans to clone a human being
Scientific American, April 01, 2002 [READ IT]
Technorati Tags: Severino Antinori, Cloning, Reproduction, science journalism, Scientific American
Facing you genetic destiny, part I and II
Scientific American, February, 2002
A two-parts story about the use of predictive genetic tests, featuring my aunt Wilma.
Included in the anthology book: “Genome, a collection of the best essays and articles on unlocking the secrets of the human genome”, River Cove Press.
Part I : Marina, a young woman living near Varese, Italy, stood chatting with her neighbors one day two years ago when she suddenly dropped to the floor, clutching her chest…
Extreme Medicine: a Profile of Gino Strada
Scientific American, January 13, 2002
In a hospital northeast of Kabul, surgeon Gino Strada is redefining what it means to provide quality medical care in a combat zone.
By Sergio Pistoi and Marco Cattaneo
Link to Scientific American Website
Technorati Tags: gino strada, Scientific American, war medicine
Breast Cancer: Knocking Out a Killer
Test-tube studies have uncovered key facts about the breast cancer gene BRCA1, but new animal models of the disease promise to reveal much more
Scientific American, June 11, 2001 [READ IT]
Technorati Tags: breast cancer, puppy, tumors, tumours
Lead linked to homicide-not in bullet form
Words of advice from the Wild, Wild West—stay on guard when “lead” is rising in the air—may now ring true in a more literal sense: elevated levels of airborne lead correlate with higher murder rates.
Scientific American.com, May 23, 2001 [FULL TEXT]
Technorati Tags: Scientific American
Lemon Holds the Secret to Manipulating Drug-Making Bugs
Scientific American, May 15, 2001 [FULL TEXT]
Chic’ Switch Turns Stem Cells into Neurons
Scientific American.com, May 12, 2001 [FULL TEXT]
Technorati Tags: Cloning, Genetics, stem cells, science journalism, Scientific American
Study Reveals Why People Might Crave Cocaine
Scientific American.com, May 11, 2001 [FULL TEXT]
Technorati Tags: genetic testing, Genetics, predictive genetics, cocaine
Gene Study Suggests Goats Got Around Through Early Human Commerce
At the dawn of human history, long migrations were not for weaklings. Early travelers, however, could count on a sturdy, reliable and self-propelling source of food during their trips, a French study has just revealed.
Scientific American.com, May 08, 2001 [FULL TEXT]
Scientists Find ‘Wild Card’ Stem Cells in Bone Marrow
Stem cells are a bit like wild cards in the body’s deck: some can become almost any other tissue type. For this reason, scientists have hoped that these cells might eventually be used to rebuild tissues damaged by disease, trauma or age…
Scientific American.com, May 04, 2001 [FULL TEXT]
Technorati Tags: Genetics, science journalism, stem cells
Italians drop beef as first cow tests positive
Italy’s demand for beef has collapsed dramatically following last week’s discovery of the country’s first BSE case…
Nature, January 25, 2001
Technorati Tags: mad cow, research communication
Diabetics get a painless test for glucose
A new sensor allows people with diabetes to monitor their glucose levels without taking blood samples.
New Scientist, February 13, 1999
Technorati Tags: diabetes