The five most-read posts on Scope this week were:
How the false MMR vaccine-autism connection was perpetuated: An entry flagging an article by Salon.com author Rahul Parikh, MD, which analyzes the media's role in perpetuating the myth that the MMR vaccine was causing an autism epidemic. (This entry was also the source of several passionate comments that didn't quite pass the bar of our rather liberal comment policy.)
Ad it up: Super Bowl commercials vs. health research: An analysis of the money spent on Super Bowl ads compared to grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Tiny DNA circles advance stem cell therapy prospects: Stanford researchers Joseph Wu, MD, PhD; Michael Longaker, MD; and Mark Kay, MD, PhD, have devised a way to use tiny DNA minicircles to reprogram stem cells found in human fat.
PBS launches science program for young girls: This entry discusses PBS' launch of a science program for pre-teen girls called "SciGirls."
Study shows abnormalities in brains of anxiety-disorder patients: Stanford's Amit Etkin, MD, PhD, is focusing his research on generalized anxiety disorder and recently published a paper showing that GAD patients have abnormalities in the way their brain unconsciously controls emotions.
The Grand Roundup returns every Saturday to recap Scope's most popular stories.
