Intelligent robots supervised by surgeons could help take human error out of the operating room, researchers say.

A new study using mouse tumors and human lung cancer cells helps explain why taking antioxidants could accelerate the growth of early tumors or precancerous lesions in high-risk populations.

The link between the XMRV retrovirus and patients with chronic fatigue syndrome is probably the result of laboratory contamination, according to two new studies published today by the journal Science.

In 2009, a report that patients with chronic fatigue syndrome were infected with XMRV attracted considerable interest, but subsequent studies published in other journals by independent scientists failed to detect XMRV in other groups of patients with the condition. (Vincent Lombardi et al, Science Express 8 October 2009; Science 23 October 2009)

Changes in iron regulation may be an important driver of the growth and spread of breast cancer, and could possibly be used to predict the survival of women with breast cancer, a new Science Translational Medicine study in mice suggests.