The most puzzling fact about ADHD is that those with this disorder can pay attention very well to a few activities which strongly interest them, but are often unable to get themselves to focus on other tasks that they know are important.
The U.S. Census Bureau on July 21 released its annually updated interactive global resource on HIV prevalence, AIDS cases and AIDS deaths. The database is the most comprehensive resource of its kind in the world, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, which includes the Census Bureau.
That is the conclusion of some 400 scientists working on a project called the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE). In conducting more than 1,600 experiments over five years, they discovered that the bulk of DNA in our cells is not useless as previously thought, but involved in turning genes off or on, thus influencing their output, controlling their timing and coordinating their activity with other genes.
Tom Siegfried is a science freelance writer and former editor-in-chief of Science News magazine. "A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."
Helen Saad waxes poetic when she explains why she became interested in brain research. "The smell of a flower, the memory of the walk in the park, the planning of a trip... These experiences are made possible by the three pounds of tissue in our heads," she said.
When planet-hunting season begins, Scott Gaudi rarely sleeps a whole night. Gaudi is an astronomer at Ohio State University and searches for "exoplanets," Earth-like planets beyond our solar system.
Learning about "something incredible" through science is one of the greatest things about being a scientist. And scientists appreciate that about their profession. As one says in this FOCUS issue, science "provides an infinite source of challenging problems to fit every taste and passion, and it inspires us to work hard to understand our world."
