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February 15, 2012 Scientists working with bird flu recently called a 60-day halt on some controversial experiments. The unusual move has been compared to a famous moratorium on genetic engineering in the 1970s. Key scientists involved in that pause on genetic research disagree on whether today's furor over bird flu is history repeating itself.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

February 14, 2012 The science may not be perfect, but a prominent sleep researcher says she and her colleagues have a pretty good handle on how much sleep kids need. She defends the field against a study that claimed the experts haven't even had a clue.

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February 9, 2012 The scientists, journal editors and others who attend are expected to review the facts and the most pressing issues related to this specific work, rather than have a broader discussion about the possibility of international oversight of potentially worrisome biological research.

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February 8, 2012 Asking for less food isn't something most people think about when ordering from a menu. A new study suggests that asking people if they want less food and, in turn, fewer calories, before they order is key.

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February 3, 2012 A study of cocaine addicts finds that they have abnormalities in areas of the brain involved in self-control. And these abnormalities appear to predate any drug abuse.

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January 27, 2012 Scratching an itchy ankle is more satisfying than relieving an itch on your back or arm. Even if you thought you knew that, scientists now have evidence to back up your hunch.

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January 23, 2012 Women don't suffer in silence. They report feeling more pain than men from such common conditions as ankle sprains and sinus infections, a Stanford study finds. A better understanding of gender differences in pain could lead to better treatments.

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January 20, 2012 Scientists working with a highly contagious, lab-created strain of bird flu will suspend their research for 60 days. The pause will make possible an international debate on the merits of the work, they say.

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January 20, 2012 Each tear you shed contains an army of enzymatic Pac-Men, ready to chase down and gobble up germs before they infect the sensitive tissues around your eye. Now scientists have found just one molecule of the germ-fighting enzyme is a potent defender.

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January 12, 2012 After a three-year investigation, the University of Connecticut Health Center has told 11 scientific journals that studies they published by resveratrol researcher Dipak K. Das may not be trustworthy.

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January 6, 2012 The vaccine protected 80 percent of monkeys from infection with SIV, the simian version of HIV. By comparison, an experimental HIV vaccine was 31 percent effective in protecting people against infection in a large-scale study unveiled in 2009.

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December 29, 2011 Surgeons make full-face transplants a reality for people with severely disfigured faces. Three such operations were performed successfully in Boston this year, a turning point in the field.

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December 22, 2011 The journal Science has withdrawn a study from 2009 that suggested an obscure virus causes chronic fatigue syndrome. The findings raised patients' hopes for effective treatments. But scientists who raced to confirm the viral link failed to do so.

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December 21, 2011 In a landmark decision, an expert panel that advises the government on research security says key details of work on the contagiousness of flu viruses should not be published openly. I

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

December 6, 2011 Bedbugs' eagerness to mate with their kin is one reason their populations have taken off so dramatically, new research suggests. Inbreeding comes naturally to them, and it doesn't seem to hurt their offspring much, as is the case with most other creatures.

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