The five most-read posts on Scope this week were:
Leaders in academic medicine ask Congress to pass stem cell legislation: Members of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) called on Congressional leaders to pass legislation that would authorize and continue federal support for human embryonic stem cell research.
The RNA insurrection: Genes' "humble servant" rules from behind the scenes: A once-unimagined class of molecules is playing a bigger part than anybody thought in the running of intracellular life. Most surprising is that these molecules are not proteins, the proletarian workhorses of every cell. They are instead made of RNA, traditionally dismissed as a mere messenger from a cell's nucleus to its outermost regions.
Neurosurgeon/triathlete still trucking at 70: This post flagged a Wall Street Journal video profiling Joseph Maroon, MD, a 70-year-old neurosurgeon who competes in triathlons.
Can restaurant chefs help curb obesity rates in America?: In a recent study, researchers surveyed 432 chefs, restaurant owners and culinary executives from across the country and found that 72 percent could trim 10 percent of the calories in meals without customers noticing differences in taste, and 21 percent could reduce calories by at least 25 percent.
Today is the 115th anniversary of the X-ray: One hundred and fifteen years ago (plus a few days), Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovered the X-ray, an accident of experiments with vacuum tubes.
