The Food and Drug Administration unveiled new, tougher conflict of interest rules yesterday (Aug 4). Key among the regulations was one that prohibits physicians or researchers who have more than $50,000 worth of financial interests in pharmaceutical or medical device companies from offering expert advice as members of FDA advisory panels. (The Scientist)

The study reviewed American daily newspapers that were most prolific about this story: the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times. A total of 1 141 articles and over 400 letters to the editor were analyzed. Never before had the media coverage of such a clinical case been studied so extensively. The accuracy and the nature of the statements on Terri Schiavo’s neurological condition, her behaviours, her behavioural repertoire, her prognosis and the withdrawal of treatment were examined. (Canadian Business Online)

A pair of Princeton psychology researchers has developed a computer program that allows scientists to analyze better than ever before what it is about certain human faces that makes them look either trustworthy or fearsome. In doing so, they have also found that the program allows them to construct computer-generated faces that display the most trustworthy or dominant faces possible. (EurekaAlert)

Ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, leading British scientist Dr. Andy Miah has warned that athletes may be injecting themselves with “super DNA.” This year’s games are believed by some to feature a new generation of “genetically modified” athletes who have had their performance improved by the injection of foreign DNA. Steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs which are now easily detected in drug testing seem like a much smaller problem in comparison to the possibility of genetic modification. (Cleveland Leader)