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Biological threats pose some of the gravest health risks in our increasingly interconnected world. They can be naturally occurring, such as outbreaks of Ebola infections, or bioterrorism, such as the anthrax attacks in 2001. A study reported this week renews worries about human-made biological agents. Scientists synthesized an extinct horsepox virus closely related to smallpox, the deadliest microbe in human history. Smallpox has been eradicated, but the work raises the possibility that it would be relatively straightforward to synthesize the smallpox virus. (Sun, 7/7)

Scientists in Canada have used commercially available genetic material to piece together the extinct horsepox virus, a cousin of the smallpox virus that killed as many as a billion human beings before being eradicated. The laboratory achievement was reported Thursday in a news article in the journal Science. (Achenbach and Sun, 7/7)

The main goal of pre-operative (neoadjuvant) chemotherapy for breast cancer is to shrink tumors so women can have a lumpectomy rather than a more invasive mastectomy. It was therefore initially used only on large tumors after being introduced about 25 years ago. But as fewer and fewer women were diagnosed with large breast tumors, pre-op chemo began to be used in patients with smaller cancers, too, in the hope that it would extend survival. But pre-op chemo can, instead, promote metastasis, scientists concluded from experiments in lab mice and human tissue, published in Science Translational Medicine. (Begley, 7/10)

Palliative care has been shown to increase patients’ satisfaction with the care they receive and to save on medical expenses by reducing the need for hospitalizations and trips to the emergency room. One study of homebound, terminally ill patients with a prognosis of approximately a year or less to live, plus one or more hospital or emergency department visits in the previous year, found that the average cost of care for those receiving palliative care services — $95.30 per day — was less than half the cost for  those without palliative care — $212.80. Despite dramatic growth in the number of hospitals providing such care over the last decade, full palliative care services remain unavailable to many patients. But those who work in the field say they are encouraged by several developments over the last five years. (Ollove, 7/10)

Stem cell tourism — in which patients travel to developing countries for unproven and potentially risky therapies — should be more tightly regulated, according to a group of international health experts. With hundreds of medical centers around the world claiming to be able to repair tissue damaged by conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, tackling unscrupulous advertising of such procedures is crucial. (7/8)

A new study by Harvard University researchers has found that pregnant women who forgo sugar-sweetened beverages — specifically soda and fruit drinks — may help their children avoid excess weight and even obesity later in childhood. “We found mothers who consumed more sugary beverages in mid-pregnancy had children with higher amounts of body fat, no matter what the kids’ intake was,” said Sheryl L. Rifas-Shiman, a biostatistician with Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. (Giordano, 7/10)

Not so long ago, people like my Aunt Muriel thought of sunburn as a necessary evil on the way to a “good base tan.” She used to slather on the baby oil while using a large reflector to bake away. Aunt Muriel’s mantra when the inevitable burn and peel appeared: Beauty has its price. (Hanson, 7/8)

A Franklin County jury decided that death wasn’t the appropriate penalty for Lincoln S. Rutledge after hearing testimony about his mental illness. The jurors recommended life in prison without parole after the defense called a parade of witnesses, including a psychologist who said Rutledge was suffering from a delusional disorder at the time of the crime. (Futty, 7/10)

New research from Iowa State University finds that men convicted of domestic violence are nearly 50 percent less likely to reoffend if they participate in an intervention that emphasizes emotional awareness. Men convicted of domestic violence are often required to participate in a program that teaches their violence is the result of a desire to control women. (Boden, 7/7)

A study by UC Berkeley researchers found that a sense of smell can influence the brain’s decision to burn fat or store it in the body — or a least the bodies of mice. Researchers Andrew Dillin and Celine Riera studied three groups of mice — normal mice, “super-smellers” and ones without a sense of smell — and saw a direct correlation between their ability to smell and how much weight they gained from a high-fat, “Burger King diet,” Dillin said. (Graham, 7/9)