Top Stories 
Published On January 15, 2007
TECHNOLOGY
Master of Disguise
Robert Barron, who once created masks for CIA agents, now uses his talent for a different purpose: bringing people disfigured by trauma and disease out from hiding.
For 15 years, Robert Barron created masks for the Central Intelligence Agency, helping agents disappear into the shadows. Since his retirement in 1993, he has used his talent for a different purpose: bringing men, women and children disfigured by trauma, disease and congenital defects out from hiding. Made of silicone and painstakingly hand painted, Barron’s removable prosthetic ears, noses, fingers and faces—held in place by magnets, adhesives or screws—are nothing short of transformational.
Dispatches
What Makes a Kid Clumsy? More research into coordination disorders shows why some children are more prone to trip, fumble and spill the milk.
Eyes in the Sky Satellite data can be used to assess the health impact of dust storms and the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. Additional applications could be on the horizon.
Could This One Change Help Curb the Opioid Crisis? To prescribe an effective bridge to addiction treatment, emergency physicians must get special training and receive a waiver. Making that process easier—or eliminating the requirement altogether—could make a big impact.
One Thing Leads to the Next Robert Lefkowitz is best known for revealing the mechanism behind hundreds of drugs in use today. But he thinks of himself as a storyteller first and has a new book out to make his case.
Podcast: The Research Year That Was Medical research labs have faced a difficult stretch of closed buildings and competing priorities. Yet they have also produced milestone discoveries—and not only on COVID-19.
The Shape of Us Two milestone discoveries in protein modeling promise to change the fundamentals of drug discovery.
Universal Flu Vaccines Move Forward In the shadow of coronavirus vaccine development, another vaccine was making solid progress.
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