William Haseltine

Recent studies show mother-to-child transmission can be eliminated More »

I love art and I like to travel. What then could be better than finding art in the Atlanta Airport, specifically Terminal E while changing planes on the way from Washington to Lima.What I noticed first was a wall mounted display of outsized Venus fly traps in bronze. The amazing shapes, each designed to lure and trap an unwary prey, are study in form and function. Alas I did not record the artist's name.Imaginative works in glass by contemporary artists are… More »

A study and an editorial highlight the need to implement the practice in order to slow and stop the epidemic More »

Last weekend I spent a sunny afternoon in Madrid at the house of Joaquin Sorolla. This a must visit in Madrid. The home is in a quiet and beautiful residential section of the city. The gardens designed by Sorolla reflect regional diversity and are maintained beautifully. The home is a museum devoted to paintings of his family and friends as well as studies for his great masterwork, The Provinces of Spain, now on view at the recently restored Hispanic Society of… More »

I was in Mexico in the spring with my daughter Mara. We both spoke at a Science and City planning meeting in Mexico City. We spent two days in the countryside. These photos are of some of Diego Rivera's work. The first is of the water works in Chapultepec Park. It is beautifully painted with a scene of evolution. It is a very small fragment of what is a truly a monumental work. The building has been closed until recently. The black and white is a vintage photo… More »

An osteoporosis treatment approved on Tuesday is an early product of genomic discoveries and a sign of what's to come More »

An insider's account of an informal meeting of people and organizations dedicated to improving the environment More »

The technique involved in the recent creation of an artificial genome is brilliant, but the results aren't very different from what we could already do -- and they certainly don't mean we're now playing God More »

The 28-year old-musical genius' performance is intense, exciting and brilliant More »

Cameron Carpenter has a vision to make the instrument portable so people can enjoy its music anywhere More »

Scientists have identified a protein that ups the risk of heart attack and stroke. More »

A decades-long odyssey has ushered in a new era of immune-based cancer treatments. A pioneering researcher describes the journey. More »

A review and panel discussion on the new movie, which focuses on a condition that can lead to premature death More »

On Wednesday through Friday of last week, I attended The Atlantic's First Draft of History event at the Newseum. Here are some of the notes I jotted down during the sessions. The First Draft of History is a forum sponsored jointly by The Atlantic and The Aspen Institute (David Bradley and Walter Isaacson, respectively).The kick-off event was Wednesday evening at the home of Katherine and David Bradley: a dinner for about 200 most of whom are Washington insiders.… More »

The Kremlin Armory has opened its vast storehouse of treasures for display in the West in two major exhibitions. The "The Magnificence of the Tsars" on display earlier this year in London's Victoria and Albert Museum featured coronation vestments of the Tsars from the time of Peter II in 1727 to Nicholas II in 1896. A second, "Tsars and the East: Gifts from Turkey and Iran in the Moscow Kremlin", is a sumptuous collection of diplomatic gifts to the Tsar from Persia… More »

Saturday, the first official day New York summer summer, I took a day trip up the Hudson. The first stop Beacon New York, about an hour an a half drive through beautiful country. Beacon can also be reached by train, the Metro North Line that leaves from Grand Central Station. To enjoy a river view on the way, find a seat on the left side of the train. First stop, Mike and Doug Starn's latest project "Big Bambu". Big and bamboo only begin to describe this… More »

Museums are becoming ever more inventive in their use of space. Over the past two days I have seen two "interstitial exhibitions," collections that use non-traditional museum space. Just opened at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Washington DC is "Landscape/Body/Dwelling", a Charles Simonds retrospective. His smaller sculptures are interspersed amongst displays of Roman, Byzantine and Pre-Columbia art. Larger works are nestled amongst bush and branch in the garden.… More »

Biotechnology is the selection or alteration of living organisms for human use. Its oldest forms are agriculture and animal husbandry: modifying the natural world to feed and clothe ourselves. Our ancestors also quickly figured out how to harness yeast to ferment alcohol and leaven bread. More recently, the discovery of penicillin, in 1928, ushered in a new era: the large-scale cultivation of microorganisms to produce antibiotics. But the modern biotechnology… More »

The H1N1 influenza epidemic is dominating the news. National resources have been mobilized, the nation's stockpile of anti-influenza drugs is being distributed, and officials from the president and vice president on down are advising the public daily how to avoid, detect, and treat the disease. As of May 4th, the Centers for Disease Control had reported 286 confirmed cases and one death from the H1N1 influenza in the United States. Perhaps concern is justified, as… More »

How worried should we be about swine flu? I believe we are overacting. My opinion, informed by current reports, the behavior of past influenza epidemics, and my knowledge and experience as a virologist, is that while this is potentially serious, there is no cause for alarm. Based on what we know today, we should be no more worried about the current epidemic of swine flu than we are about the seasonal influenza epidemics that sweep across the globe each November to… More »