The five most-read posts on Scope this week were:
Genetics study could lead to development of better wine, table grapes: Researchers have completed the most comprehensive genetic analysis to date of the domesticated grape. Lead author Sean Myles, PhD, a Stanford postdoctoral research scientist who conducted the study while at Cornell's Institute for Genomic Diversity, discusses the findings.
Paramecia PacMan: Researchers create video games using living organisms: Stanford physicist Ingmar Riedel-Kruse, PhD, and colleagues have begun developing "biotic games" involving paramecia and other living organisms. Kruse hopes the games lead to advances in education and crowd-sourcing of laboratory research while fostering public discourse about bio-related issues.
One-in-a-million quadruplets heading home: Big changes started this week for one Redwood City, Calif., family: They welcomed home one of their four quadruplet girls born at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital on Oct. 21. The birth of these quadruplets, who were conceived without fertility treatments and include one pair of identical twins, is a one-in-a-million event.
Is the United States losing ground as a leader of medical innovation? Although the U.S. still tops the list of global leaders in medical technology innovation, emerging markets are gaining ground and stirring up speculation that the live-saving, cost-cutting devices of the future may be developed in countries such as China, India and Brazil. That's according to a report released this week from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"Natural" or not, chicken nuggets are high in fat, sodium: A discussion on the nutritional value of chicken nuggets, which a Consumer Reports Health investigation found to be high in fat and sodium.
