LA Times Science Files for 2007/05/22

These are items compiled by staff of the LA Times.

• MEDICINE
  Diabetes drug Avandia boosts heart attack risk, study finds
  

  A widely prescribed drug to treat Type 2 diabetes substantially increases the risk of heart attacks and death from cardiovascular disease, according to a study released today that critics say questions the government’s ability to monitor drug safety. By Karen Kaplan and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Times Staff Writers.

• MEDICINE
  Aspiring abortion doctors drawn to embattled field
  

  Medical students cite defiance and conscience as a reason to choose the career. ‘It doesn’t matter what you believe if you don’t back it up with action,’ one says. By Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer.

• SPORTS DRUG TESTING
  Landis expert calls lab results unreliable
  

  Implications that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis may have used testosterone to bolster his endurance or add a shot of aggressiveness late in the race were dismissed by an expert Monday. By Michael A. Hiltzik, Times Staff Writer.

• ENDANGERED SPECIES
  Whales linger on return toward sea
  

  SACRAMENTO – A pair of wayward humpback whales continued their improbable trek through the inland waterways of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta on Monday, pressing toward the Pacific before stalling out near a steel bridge 60 miles from the sea. By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer.

• MOONBOWS
  Beauty in the misty moonlight
  

  Elusive moonbows have long graced Yosemite Falls. Now a team of astronomers can predict when they will occur. By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer.