Stories by Monya Baker

Monya Baker works for Nature magazine.

Chemistry

Deceptive Spice Extract Offers Cautionary Tale for Chemists

Curcumin dupes assays and leads some drug hunters astray

January 11, 2017 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

The Sciences

Chemists Start Web Site Fingering Substances That Ruin Experiments

Bad chemical probes have messed up clinical trials for breast cancer

July 23, 2015 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Health

New Stem Cell Finding Bodes Well for Future Medical Use in Humans

Concerns that stem cells could cause cancer in recipients are fading further with a new study

May 16, 2014 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Health

Stem Cells Made from Cloned Human Embryos

Cell lines made by two separate teams could boost the prospects of patient-specific therapies

April 28, 2014 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Health

Widely Prescribed Statin Could Help Organ-Transplant Patients

The finding results from a data-crunching effort that highlighted drugs affecting the activity of genes involved in organ rejection

October 15, 2013 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Biology

Miniature Human Liver Grown in Mice

Transplanted "liver buds" self-organized to grow into functional organs, staving off death in mice with liver failure

July 3, 2013 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Health

Violence against Women at Epidemic Proportions

Multicountry analyses spotlight a dark problem

June 20, 2013 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Biology

First Fluorescent Protein Identified in a Vertebrate Animal

An eel popular in sushi has muscle fibers that could offer an opportunity for advances in bioimaging

June 13, 2013 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Biology

Bendable Needles Developed to Deliver Stem Cells into Brains

The flexible needles could help doctors deliver stem cells to broader areas of the brain with fewer injections. Such therapies are being investigated for Parkinson's disease, stroke and other neurodegenerative disorders...

March 5, 2013 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Biology

Safety of Induced Stem Cells Gets a Boost

Fears of an immune response to replacement tissues have been overestimated, new research suggests, rejecting previous findings about possible side effects

January 10, 2013 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Biology

Brain Cells Made from Urine

Human excreta could be a powerful source of cells to study disease, bypassing some of the problems of using stem cells, such as the risk of developing tumors and difficulties in obtaining blood samples from children...

December 10, 2012 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Biology

Trio of Genome-Sequencing Studies Offers a Broader View of Lung Cancer

The studies could help revamp treatments for the world's most deadly cancer, making them more specific to the mutation patterns

September 13, 2012 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Biology

Synthetic Biology Book Published in DNA

The data storage project represents the largest piece of nonbiological data ever stored in this manner

August 17, 2012 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Biology

Pregnancy Alters Resident Gut Microbes

Women's third-trimester microbiota resemble that of people at risk of diabetes

August 2, 2012 — Monya Baker and Nature magazine

Biology

Can Bacteria Fight Brain Cancer?

The thinking behind an approach that has caused trouble in California

July 30, 2012 — Monya Baker