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Time slips by

For patients with infectious diseases like tuberculosis, timing is critical. Tuberculosis is one of the most common causes of death from a curable disease, and cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis are on the rise. But determining if a patient carries an antibiotic-resistant strain can take weeks or months using current clinical diagnostics. During this period, patients are often treated with ineffective drugs and can continue to spread their illness as time slips away. This problem is not unique to tuberculosis – quicker diagnostics are urgently needed for all infectious diseases.

Look around the ӳý's public spaces, and you'll find that the ӳý is “Unfolding.” That’s the title of an exhibition featuring the work that artist-in-residence has created during her two-year collaboration with scientists here. Tonight, Ranganathan, known as Gupi, will give a talk at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston about that collaboration.

It has long been recognized that autism runs in families, suggesting a substantial genetic component to the disease. Yet few genes have so far been identified and the underlying genetic architecture of autism — that is, how many genes contribute and to what extent they influence a person’s chances of developing the disorder — remains poorly understood.

If there were just one book of biology, it would be rewritten constantly with the sometimes dramatic, more often incremental advances in understanding that come with the nature of science. Constant revision can come with insight – think Darwin – or with technology – witness faster, cheaper sequencing machines – or with both.