Mealtime has always been a family affair for the Kochanczyks of Indiana. Dave Kochanczyk loved barbecuing, cooking Polish food, and preparing fresh vegetables from the garden. When he wasn’t in the kitchen, he led an active life, working as an electrical contractor, serving as a volunteer firefighter, and managing the family’s large rural property. Cancer
Developing sperm (blue; artificially colored) fill the center of the seminiferous tubules (orange), which form the human testicle.Credit: Susumu Nishinaga/Scientific Photo Library A cutting-edge operation has restored a man’s ability to produce sperm by transplanting tissue samples that were removed from one of his testicles and frozen 16 years earlier, when he was still a
The Epstein-Barr virus activates specific T cells in the immune system, causing an attack on nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.Credit: Steve Gschmeissner/Scientific Photo Library For years, a common virus has been implicated in the development of multiple sclerosis, a disease in which the body’s immune system attacks nerve cells in the brain
the problem Dear Nature, I’m a PhD student whose research involves euthanizing healthy mice, usually via cervical dislocation, which basically means breaking the animals’ necks as quickly and painlessly as possible. I love my field and knew that working with animals would be part of my job when I started my PhD. I try to
In 1996, cryobiologist Gregory Fahy walked into his doctor’s office and got a monthly supply of growth hormone. Your hope, reinforced by a single study in rats1was that the injections would help him grow his thymus, a peculiar immune organ that atrophies and virtually disappears as people age. Regenerating it, Fahy thought, would help it
Analyzes of the scientific evidence led doctors to recommend that babies sleep on their backs.Credit: Yamaguchi Haruyoshi/Corbis/Getty Beyond Credibility: How Evidence Shows What Really Works Helen Pearson Princeton University. Press (2026) Consolidating the use of evidence in health and public policy has required decades of challenging work. Fifty years ago, doctors used to think that