Melissa Moore

As the saying goes, "Mom knows best". This is especially true when we're under the weather, and though there are but few PTA members with legit science and medical degrees, it seems like most Moms could whip up an acute care clinic from the trunk of their Volvo if pressed. We turn to them for tummy aches and acne, scrapes and sunburns, chickenpox and colds (and nearly everything in between), and though their specialized mixture...

Photo by Melissa Moore/LAist Now that it's November and the fall is officially here LA-style (the rain this past weekend totally counts), we feel that it's our ScientIST duty to gently put aside the upcoming holiday season to focus on YOU. To that end, we hope you'll join us each Monday this month to discover ways to keep you healthy and sane through butter-laden pecan pies, overbearing relatives, and the seasonal flu. Well, Angelenos,...

Photo by Melissa Moore/LAist We conclude our ScientIST series for October focused on Breast Cancer Awareness. As we bring our special ScientIST series on Breast Cancer Awareness to a close (you can find earlier articles here and here), we encourage you to remember that October was getting the message out; the fight to find a cure (or cures) to this disease continues in laboratories and hospitals and homes year-round. Check out the following local...

Like, totally cellular | Photo by Melissa Moore/LAist We continue our ScientIST series for October focused on Breast Cancer Awareness. Last week, we kicked off Breast Cancer Awareness month by highlighting the pioneering work of UCLA's own Dr. Dennis Slamon in the field of breast cancer therapy and his fight to bring Herceptin to market. In doing so, we likened cancer to a weed overgrowing a garden, diverting vital nutrients and resources away from...

I heart D&A | Photo by Melissa Moore/LAist LAist's freshly minted Ph.D., Melissa, is stepping out of the lab to bring you Scient-IST. Our resident expert will give you the inside scoop on health, science and breaking research. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, our kick-off columns will focus on the latest in breast cancer studies, activism and more. Who says scientists can't be celebrities? They've got cool gear (PET scanners), adoring fans...

The Deadly Syndrome hamm(er)ing it up via their MySpace page It was only a matter of time before hipster boys and girls grew up to have boys and girls of their own, and were left with the dilemma of how to reconcile a live music obsession with a dearth of available babysitters. Presto chango diapero! Kidrockers to your rescue! Beg, borrow, or reproduce - all you need is a little one and a sense...

Everyone loves a mystery. But Mondays turn into Fridays turn back into Mondays and it's not long before you arrive at the sobering realization that the last time a good, old-fashioned whodunit inundated your methodical lifestyle was during a chance encounter with the collected works of Agatha Christie. Imagine your surprise, then, when going about your normal A.M. routine - coffee, toast, LAist (ahem), MySpace status update (mood: exanimate!) - you happen upon a peculiar...

Photo by Christine N. Ziemba/LAist It has long been held that the mysteries of the human body be revealed to a select group of degree laden individuals, physicians and scientists alike, whose rigorous scholastic upbringing served as an all access pass to our anatomy and physiology. The layperson, meanwhile, was left to entrust his or her precious and vastly complicated system to the aforementioned guru or, more often then not, lay awake at night...

Ranunculus and Anemones | Photo by pink_fish13 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Is it too much to ask that all businesses, big and small, have a Green rating associated with them? Something akin to LA's restaurant classifications, where the average consumer is clued into the eco-friendliness of establishments and in turn, companies vie for the buyer's dollars through a public showing (or shaming) of their carbon footprint? While the complications and policing...

Not knocking the strictly stay-at-home soccer moms of yesteryear with their mom jeans, feathered bobs and tuna casseroles, but Baby, we've come a long way. The sea change of the last decade has made Mom cool again, and not just because hipsters have appropriated their high-waisted pants and MILFs are TV plotline de rigueur (30 Rock's "MILF Island," anyone?). Parents in general and mothers specifically are throwing away the old books with their outdated rules...