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Imagine you're trying to find a cure for a disease, such as cystic fibrosis, which results from a single defective gene. Using "traditional" gene therapy, you'd infect the patient with a virus containing a good copy of the gene, hoping the DNA inserts into the person's genome in a spot that doesn't trigger cancer.

Zip. Zilch. Nada. There's no real difference between the scores of U.S. boys and girls on common math tests, according to a massive new study. Educators hope the finding will finally dispel lingering perceptions that girls don't measure up to boys when it comes to crunching numbers.

Richard Robinson, © 2007 Public Library of Science. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Gross L (2007) A Single Gene Coordinates the Social Life of Honeybees. PLoS Biol 5(3): e86

Bats and birds use their wing-flapping powers differently, a video study of the night flyers reveals. Bats leave a more complicated pattern of swirling vortices in their wake, and work harder on their upstroke than birds. This, the researchers say, may be the secret to their super-maneuverability. And it means that they fly a bit like a bee.

Robinson R (2007) Both Barriers and Trait Complementarity Govern Pollination Network Structure. PLoS Biol 5(2): e54

Gross L (2007) Central and Peripheral Signals Set the Circadian Liver Clock. PLoS Biol 5(2): e50

Jones R (2007) Combinatorial Coding for Drosophila Neurons. PLoS Biol 5(2): e51

Gross L (2007) Diverse Toxic Chemicals Disrupt Cell Function through a Common Path. PLoS Biol 5(2): e41

Hoff M (2007) Does Bacteriophage ϕ29 Pack Its DNA with a Twist? PLoS Biol 5(3): e91

Jones R (2007) Evolutionary Influences on Proteins. PLoS Biol 5(2): e26

Many philosophers have argued that people make decisions about what's right and wrong based on moral principles and rational thought. But other philosophers--and more recently, some psychologists and neuroscientists--have argued that there's more to the story. When faced with a moral dilemma, these scholars say, we rely on emotional reactions as well as our powers of reasoning. In a study of brain damage, published today, neuroscientists report evidence that emotions indeed exert a powerful influence on moral judgments.

Liza Gross, © 2007 Public Library of Science. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Robinson R (2007) Protein¨CRNA Interaction Links Fragile X Syndrome and Alzheimer Disease. PLoS Biol 5(3): e84

Aside from primates, most mammals are largely colorblind. Now researchers have found that transgenic mice can acquire the ability to detect new color differences if given a gene for making an additional light-sensing eye protein. The findings have implications for understanding how color vision evolved.

Why do we wrinkle our noses in disgust or widen our eyes with fear? A new study shows that doing so might help keep us alive.

Janelle Weaver, This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Gross L (2007) Untapped Bounty: Sampling the Seas to Survey Microbial Biodiversity. PLoS Biol 5(3): e85