The Scientist Magazine®

Suited to a T

Sorting out T-cell functional and phenotypic heterogeneity depends on studying single cells.

How Safe Is Your Medicine?

Clinicians and regulators push to fix critical weaknesses in the FDA’s monitoring system for approved drugs.

Sharing the Load

By varying the size of their steps, dynein motor proteins work effectively as teams to carry heavy loads around the cell.

Flying Frog, 1855

Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwin’s unheralded codiscoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection, found inspiration in the specimens he collected on his travels.

News & Opinion

Covering the life sciences inside and out

Ants on Burglar Watch

By Kate Yandell

An ant species that lives on a carnivorous pitcher plant keeps nutrient thieves from escaping by eating them.

Inhibit Mitochondria to Live Longer?

By Sabrina Richards

Researchers find that reducing mitochondrial protein production in some animals can increase lifespan by activating a protective stress response.

Rampant Plagiarism in Two Journals

By Kerry Grens

An investigation by The Scientist reveals blatant misuse of open-access articles.

Vitamin C Slays TB Bacteria

By Dan Cossins

The essential nutrient can kill drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis by producing oxidative radicals that damage DNA.

The Nutshell

Daily News Roundup

Italy Orders Trials of Unproven Therapy

Italian lawmakers have demanded formal approval for a controversial stem-cell therapy, but allowed some patients to continue treatment under stricter rules.

Arctic Bacteria Thrives at Mars Temps

Researchers discover a microbe living at -15°C, the coldest temperature ever reported for bacterial growth, giving hope to the search for life elsewhere in the cosmos.

Recycling Kidneys

Researchers are trying to use discarded donor kidneys as a scaffold for building new ones.

Macrophages Drive Regeneration

The activity of one type of immune cell helps regrow the limbs of amputated salamanders.

Current Issue

May 2013

Live Wires

Discoveries of microbial communities that transfer electrons between cells and across relatively long distances are launching a new field of microbiology.