Lauran Neergaard

Read the latest stories and analysis from Lauran Neergaard.

This handout photo provided by the Washington University School of Medicine shows Dr. Jeffrey Gordon and graduate student Vanessa Ridaura of Washington University in St. Louis example samples of gut bacteria taken from fat or lean people. Their research transplanted human intestinal microbes into germ-free mice and found certain bugs may help fight obesity, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013, at the university in St. Louis. Call it a hidden ally: The right germs just might be able to help fight fat. Different kinds of bacteria that live inside the gut can help spur obesity or protect against it, say scientists at Washington University in St. Louis who transplanted intestinal germs from fat or lean people into mice and watched the rodents change. And what they ate determined whether the good germs could move in and do the job. (AP Photo/Elizabethe Holland, Washington University School of Medicine)

Study: The right bacteria might help fight obesity

Lauran Neergaard · September 5, 2013 6:07 pm

FILE - This Oct. 17, 2012 file photo shows a patient getting a flu shot in Jackson, Miss. Flu vaccination is no longer merely a choice between a jab in the arm or a squirt in the nose. This fall, some brands promise a little extra protection. For the first time, certain vaccines will guard against four strains of flu rather than the usual three. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

Some flu vaccines promise a little more protection

Lauran Neergaard · September 3, 2013 7:16 am

Shawn and Carrie Pratt of Kingwood, W.Va., with their daughter Dagen, speak to the media outside a federal health meeting in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013. Dagen was part of a controversial study of premature babies that has sparked questions about how to inform patients about the risks of medical research. (AP Photo/Lauran Neergaard)

Baby study spurs ethics debate over research risks

Lauran Neergaard · August 29, 2013 5:20 pm

Scientists find clue to age-related memory loss

Scientists find clue to age-related memory loss

Lauran Neergaard · August 28, 2013 9:46 pm

This handout photo provided by Charles Tripp, taken in 2012 shows liver transplant recipient William Sherbert at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. Sherbert of Garden Grove, Calif., temporarily moved from California, among the toughest parts of the country to get a donated liver, to Florida for a faster liver transplant. He recovered for his May 2012 transplant. (AP Photo/Charles Tripp)

Mapping the way to a more fair wait for new livers

Lauran Neergaard · August 20, 2013 4:36 pm

New tool peeks into brain to measure consciousness

New tool peeks into brain to measure consciousness

Lauran Neergaard · August 14, 2013 7:43 pm

FILE - This April 8, 2013 file photo shows a worker cleaning empty cages used for transporting chickens, to prevent an outbreak of H7N9 infections at a wholesale poultry market in Hong Kong. Scientists who sparked an outcry by creating easier-to-spread versions of the bird flu want to try such experiments again using a worrisome new strain. Since it broke out in China in March, the H7N9 bird flu has infected more than 130 people and killed 43. Leading flu researchers say that genetically engineering this virus in the lab could help track whether itâs changing in the wild to become a bigger threat. They announced the pending plans Wednesday in letters to the journals Science and Nature. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

Scientists plan controversial lab-made bird flu

Lauran Neergaard · August 7, 2013 6:54 pm

AGING AMERICA: Live to 120? Most say no thanks

AGING AMERICA: Live to 120? Most say no thanks

Lauran Neergaard · August 6, 2013 7:00 pm

FILE - In this May 30, 2013 file photo provided by the Murnaghan family, Sarah Murnaghan, left, lies in her hospital bed next to adopted sister Ella on the 100th day of her stay in Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. A federal judge in Philadelphia has made the dying 10-year-old eligible to seek donor lungs from an adult transplant list. (AP Photo/Murnaghan Family, File)

Pennsylvania girl gets on lung donor list; boy also sues

Lauran Neergaard, Maryclaire Dale · June 6, 2013 4:00 am

Mom’s obesity surgery may help break cycle in kids

Mom’s obesity surgery may help break cycle in kids

Lauran Neergaard · May 28, 2013 5:55 am

Govt stops study seeking to prevent type of stroke

Govt stops study seeking to prevent type of stroke

Lauran Neergaard · May 10, 2013 9:59 pm

Latest HIV vaccine doesn’t work; govt halts study

Latest HIV vaccine doesn’t work; govt halts study

Lauran Neergaard · April 25, 2013 9:00 pm