Current Issue: Summer 2008
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Coming
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 Through September 28: “Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics,” an exhibit at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, will celebrate the nineteenth-century friar who introduced the world to heredity. On display: rare books from the abbey where Mendel studied as well as art inspired by genetics.
September 30:
By this date, the FDA plans to fill 1,300 open positions. The hiring push is spurred in part by expansion of the agency’s scope following the passage of the FDA Amendments Act of 2007. On the list of in-demand occupations: medical officers, nurse consultants and epidemiologists.
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Focus
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BEES BECOME DIAGNOSTICIANS in a glass instrument designed by artist Susana Soares. The insects, which have exquisitely sensitive antennae, can be trained to show a Pavlovian response to odorous molecules that indicate a single physiological factor, such as ovulation, or a disease state, such as tuberculosis (as in the instrument shown). When a user blows into the object, the bees either are attracted to the chamber holding the breath (signaling a positive result) or ignore it completely (negative). Future targets could include lung cancer and diabetes.
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Susana Soares |
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