Gene therapy death
The Food and Drug Administration stopped a gene therapy trial this week after a patient undergoing the experimental treatment for a severe form of arthritis had a fatal reaction. Seattle-based Targeted Genetics had enrolled 127 people in the trial in which physicians injected them with a virus that produces an inflammation-fighting protein. Researchers had thought such viruses safer than one that led to the death of Pennsylvania teenager Jesse Gelsinger during a gene therapy trial eight years ago. (FDA; Targeted Genetics statement)

Reefer madness
How high can pot get you? Insanely high, according to this week's Lancet. Researchers smoked—um, combed—the literature examining the effect of cannabis use on psychosis and found that users were 41 percent more likely than nonusers to suffer a psychotic episode later in life; chronic tokers had twice the risk, which for the average person is nearly 4 in 10,000, according to a prior Danish study. No doubt those who imbibe regularly will be tres paranoid about the findings, especially after toking up. (Lancet [abstract free with registration]; press release)

Eye know what you're doing
People behave less selfishly when they know others are watching them, which can lead to a complicated game of cat and mouse when the watched try to fool the observers they are acting naturally, researchers explain this week in Science. The authors speculate that totem poles may have had a socializing effect on societies that erected them by keeping a constant Big Brother-like watch. Who knows? Maybe the Mona Lisa keeps a similar watch over the Louvre. (Science [restricted access])

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