I've got an article in today's LA Times about a Supreme Court case that has the potential to radically change the way drug liability is handled in the US. Now, an individual who has been harmed by taking a pharmaceutical product can sue the company who made the product for damages. If the Supreme Court rules that drug makers' liability ends when a drug (and its label) is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, consumers will have no such legal recourse.

I also wrote about mental health research and practice at Binghamton University (not online). The practice side told of a new psychiatric nurse practitioner program at the school to address the rising need for mental health care in today's society. In addition, the State of New York hopes that nurses trained in the rural Southern Tier of the state -- where the need is particularly acute-- will set up practice in the region.

I wrote about medical marijuana for the LA Times last month. I started with those effects that have been touted as good (anti-pain, anti-nausea, muscle relaxant, appetite stimulant) and those that are deemed bad (addiction, risks to mental health, lung damage) and dug up the best scientific studies on each. The advocates are in there as well, with valid points to make on a topic that's been debated for decades. A new delivery system uses a vaporizer rather than smoking joints.

I also wrote an essay for the Washington Post about my experience in adult gymnastics class -- and the memories it inspired of my teenage years as a competitive gymnast.

Two articles out this week had me writing about research in foreign lands and foreign plants in the wilds of the Adirondacks.

I wrote the annual piece about scientific research careers in Europe for Science. The European Union has recommended that member countries strive to invest 3% of their gross domestic products on research and development. My article focused on two giants, Germany and the UK, an up-and-comer, Spain, and a fading glory, Italy. None are at 3% yet. I reported on new funding initiatives, new research centers, and other strategies to attract and keep researchers -- both homegrown and from abroad.

For Plenty magazine's website, I wrote about a program that trains volunteers in the Adirondacks, residents and summer folk alike, to survey lakes and ponds for invasive plants. Writing from the perspective of a participant (I plan to survey three bodies of water this summer), I described the challenge of positively identifying the bad plants from the good -- most of the problem plants have look-alike native cousins. If I can find them early, before they're well established, it increases the chances of eradication.

Translational research was the focus of a feature I wrote for Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (you have to register, but it's free for now). New funding in the UK and the US is meant to build the infrastructure to support the human experimental work necessary to "translate" promising basic research into medical practice. That infrastructure is less about facilities and more about career structure that rewards teamwork and sharing the cost burdens of clinical research.

For Nature, I reported on a diversity in science program at the University of North Carolina that's unusual in two ways: it's been around for 30 years and it supports postdoctoral fellows rather than graduate students. The program's express intent is to groom postdocs for academic research positions, to help universities (especially those in North Carolina) diversify their faculties.

This week I wrote about new treatment options for enlarged prostate, called benign prostatic hyperplasia, for the LA Times, including recent evidence that Viagra and Botox can help. If new drugs -- or new uses for old drugs -- isn't enough for you, check out the related shorts on advances in surgery, lifestyle factors, and herbal medicines, namely saw palmetto. In addition to researching the literature, I learned that urologists are funny. Unfortunately, some of their juicier quotes weren't appropriate for a newspaper audience.

I profiled Marja Makarow, a Finnish scientist who is now leading the European Science Foundation, for Nature. In doing so I learned the word sisu. It refers to a Finnish personality trait -- think resiliency -- that means "the ability to move through stone." Makarow has it. Shouldn't everyone who works in policy?

I wrote several articles for a Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine newsletter. I profiled six "new recruits" for the Dean's Discovery Report (click Spring 08 for PDF), including Steve Negus, a drug abuse researcher I know from my scientist days. I wrote the "patent spotlight," about a chemist who makes marijuana-like compounds and has brought in more licensing revenue to the university than anyone else. And I wrote the "back page," about a faculty member who was once an auto mechanic and now restores vintage cars.

I profiled Dave Tapolczay, the new chief of technology transfer at the UK's Medical Research Council (MRC), for Nature. This is no small shakes, as licensing revenue from MRC intellectual property ran to $92 million last year, and start-up companies based on ideas developed by MRC-supported scientists the (17 in the last two decades) create both jobs and revenue for the country.

I covered a symposium on predictive toxicology, diagnostics, and personalized medicine, all under the rubric of Toxicogenomics for the New York Academy of Sciences. The symposium was fascinating, with five speakers covering a wide array of practical applications of human genetics. For example, using a genetic marker to predict which patients will suffer a serious side effect -- even so-called idiosyncratic ones -- after taking a pharmaceutical. Also in breast cancer patients , predicting who will benefit from chemotherapy and who will not -- and therefore shouldn't be subjected to its side effects. Unfortunately for you NYAS nonmembers, you can only view the opening screen of the web presentation (the e-briefing).