To Our Readers: Apr. 16, 2001

Don't try to sell snake oil to TIME's science journalists. Or cold fusion, or any other unproven notion. "We pride ourselves on being sticklers for science, rooted firmly in the mainstream," says assistant managing editor Philip Elmer-DeWitt, whose hard-nosed science team produced this week's installment of Innovators, our monthly series on 100 people with breakthrough ideas. It was quite a departure for Phil's reporters and writers to venture into the realm of alternative medicine, where hopes proliferate and proof is often sketchy. Yet the field is booming because millions of Americans swear these therapies have given them relief where conventional medicine has failed them. Indeed, our skeptical journalists found six pioneers, in therapies ranging from guided imagery to visceral manipulation, who really seem to be on to something. "I was surprised," says senior writer Mike Lemonick, "at how long a record of success some of them have." Our truest believer is senior writer and health buff John Greenwald, who has tried many of the therapies and whose appearance routinely fools people into thinking he is 10 years younger than his actual age. "This was particularly meaningful to me," says John, who wrote two pieces in the package. "In fact, I celebrated the completion of this project by having a craniosacral session."

Stephen Koepp, Deputy Managing Editor