The Scientist Magazine® - Authors

Week in Review, May 20–24

Published: May 24, 2013

Journals plagiarizing journals; new immune cells combat diabetes; TB-killing vitamin C; analog cell computers; real time fish memory; ant-pitcher plant mutualism

Arctic Bacteria Thrives at Mars Temps

Published: May 23, 2013

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.

Senate Hears NIH Funding Woes

Published: May 20, 2013

Top brass at the US science agency aired monetary grievances before a Senate committee last week.

Price Drop for Sequencing Slows

Published: May 16, 2013

The cost of DNA sequencing has gotten more expensive for the first time since records have been kept.

OMICS in Hot Water

Published: May 14, 2013

HHS tells an open-access publisher to stop using the NIH, the names of its employees, and its scientific literature databases in a “misleading manner.”

Meet the New HHMI Crop

Published: May 9, 2013

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has tapped 27 biomedical researchers for their scientific excellence.

Dutch Researcher Retracts More Papers

Published: May 6, 2013

Fifty-three studies authored by shamed Tilburg University social psychologist Diederik Stapel have now been pulled from the literature.

Jamestown Settlers Practiced Cannibalism

Published: May 2, 2013

Newly discovered remains provide the first hard evidence that the ill-fated colonists of the 17th century resorted to eating human flesh when their food supply ran out.

The Genes Underlying Prematurity

Published: May 1, 2013

NIH researcher Roberto Romero describes the recent discovery of genetic elemetns that contribute to the risk of preterm birth.

Molecular Models of Birth

Published: May 1, 2013

Researchers are piecing together the chain of events that leads to preterm and full-term birth.

Why So Soon?

Published: May 1, 2013

Researchers are using modern experimental tools to probe the mysterious molecular pathways that lead to premature labor and birth.

Chemist to Court Over Assistant’s Death

Published: April 30, 2013

A UCLA researcher could face more than 4 years in jail for the death of his research assistant in a lab accident.

Bad Stats Plague Neuroscience

Published: April 16, 2013

A new study blames the unreliable nature of some research in the field on underpowered statistical analyses.

Nobel Laureate and IVF Pioneer Dies

Published: April 11, 2013

Sir Robert Edwards, whose research led to the birth of the first test tube baby, has died at age 87.

Chicken Virus Attacks Cancer Cells

Published: April 9, 2013

Researchers have genetically engineered a virus that is deadly to chickens and found that it can kill prostate cancer in vitro.

Mysterious Sea Lion Stranding Continues

Published: April 8, 2013

Scientists are stumped as to why hundreds of starved pups have been washing up on the California shore.

Canada Investigates Scientist Muzzling

Published: April 4, 2013

The Canadian information commissioner will investigate mounting claims that the government is stifling communication between federal scientists and the press.

NYT Changes Sexist Obit for Researcher

Published: April 1, 2013

After an outcry from the Twittersphere, The New York Times alters the start of an obituary for acclaimed rocket scientist Yvonne Brill.

Clinical Trial Transparency in Europe?

Published: March 28, 2013

The regulatory body that licenses drugs for use in the European Union is devising a policy that will require the publication of some clinical trial data.

Congress Finishes Spending Bill

Published: March 25, 2013

Federal science agencies get some relief from the harsh cuts to their 2013 budgets instituted by the recent sequester.

March Methods Madness

Published: March 20, 2013

Thomson Reuters launches Metrics Mania, which will pit universities against each other, not on the basketball court, but in the scientific literature.

Obama Calls for Clean Energy Boost

Published: March 18, 2013

The President wants to devote $2 billion to research that might wean America off of oil.

Gov’t Science and the Media

Published: March 15, 2013

Federal research agencies, such as the NIH, EPA, and NSF, are improving communication between their scientists and journalists, but most can do better.

Gov’t Science Integrity Measures Lackluster

Published: March 11, 2013

A new analysis finds that while some federal agencies have made strides in safeguarding the validity of their research, more work needs to be done.

Italian Science Facility Up in Smoke

Published: March 7, 2013

In Naples, a complex that housed an interactive science museum, a business incubator, and conference facilities burnt to the ground this week.

Key Mental Illness Genes Found

Published: March 4, 2013

A large genome-wide study has identified four single-nucleotide polymorphisms shared between five major psychiatric disorders.

What Ever Happened to Douglas Prasher?

Published: February 26, 2013

The first researcher to clone the gene for green fluorescent protein, but who was passed over for the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, is back in academic science.

China Admits to “Cancer Villages”

Published: February 25, 2013

Officials in the most populous nation on Earth have finally owned up to clusters of the disease around areas beset by industrial waste and other pollutants.

Backyard Bird Count Goes Global

Published: February 22, 2013

Amateur birders record an astounding number of species and individuals in the first ever worldwide avian stock taking.

Unlimited Submissions for NIH Grants?

Published: February 20, 2013

The National Institutes of Health is weighing a peer-review system where grant proposals, even ones being resubmitted, would be treated as new.

Sampling the New Arctic

Published: February 14, 2013

Scenes from a research trip, where researchers peered beneath the ice to shine a light on the emerging picture of a changing Arctic Ocean

Icy Algae in a Changing Arctic

Published: February 14, 2013

New research adds to an emerging picture of the changes that global warming and thinning ice are wreaking on the marine ecosystems at the top of the world.

Hold Off on Valentine’s Canoodling

Published: February 14, 2013

A healthcare professional warns that cold and flu seasons peak in mid-February, so it may be wise take a rain check on kissing, cuddling, and pillow sharing today.

Robo-Eye to Enter US Market

Published: February 11, 2013

A retinal prosthesis, already available in Europe, can restore partial sight to people with a genetic disorder that causes blindness.

Japan’s Nuclear Reboot Stalled

Published: February 7, 2013

Regulators are warning that the Asian country’s nuclear power infrastructure may still be vulnerable to earthquakes.

Microbial Metallurgy

Published: February 5, 2013

Meet the bacterium that pulls gold ions out of solution and forms tiny nuggets of the precious metal.

A Window into the Mind

Published: February 1, 2013

Researchers have generated an image of thoughts flitting through the brains of zebrafish.

Jennifer Reed: Metabolism Modeler

Published: February 1, 2013

Assistant Professor, Chemical & Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Age: 34

Bulgarian Science Minister Fired

Published: January 31, 2013

Charges of corruption and cronyism involving research funding have toppled the Balkan nation’s top science official.

Deadly South Pole Plane Crash

Published: January 29, 2013

An aircraft traveling between research stations in Antarctica has gone down, likely killing its three-person crew.

Researcher Meets Gruesome End

Published: January 25, 2013

An infectious disease scientist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was brutally murdered in her home.

Human Proteome Project Update

Published: January 24, 2013

Researchers report steady progress in the effort to map all the proteins made by human chromosomes.

Double DNA

Published: January 22, 2013

Scientists provide evidence for the existence of four-stranded human DNA, which has previously only been theorized and synthesized.

Deep Doo-doo

Published: January 4, 2013

An open-access study explores the intricacies of parasite egg distribution and viability in human feces.

Cancer Biomarker Studies Retracted

Published: January 3, 2013

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have retracted two papers involving colon cancer biomarkers.

Genetic Clues in the Newtown Massacre

Published: December 20, 2012

Investigators are calling on scientists to comb Adam Lanza’s DNA for potential drivers of his violent behavior last week in Connecticut.

Science’s Reproducibility Problem

Published: December 18, 2012

A recent roundtable discussion identifies challenges facing the scientific community regarding a lack of reproducible results in the literature.

Smoking, Taxes, and Genes

Published: December 14, 2012

New research suggests that some smokers may carry a gene variant that makes them less likely to quit simply because cigarette taxes are raised.

NIH to Go Anonymous?

Published: December 13, 2012

The National Institutes of Health is considering a pilot program that would keep the identity of grant applicants hidden from reviewers.

Losing the Funding Fight

Published: December 11, 2012

A researcher tries and fails to garner support for petitions to increase the National Institutes of Health’s budget as sequestration looms.

Feds Scrutinize Genomics Merger

Published: December 6, 2012

A Chinese biotech company is angling to buy California-based Complete Genomics, but federal regulators are expressing security concerns and may scuttle the deal.

2012 Top 10 Innovations - Honorable Mentions

Published: December 4, 2012

These new products didn't quite breech the top 10 this year, but attracted the attention of our panel of expert judges nonetheless.

Signs of Life on Mars?

Published: December 4, 2012

Tests run on Martian soil samples indicate the presence of organic compounds, but the traces of carbon may or may not have come from once-living things.

Water Ice Detected on Mercury

Published: November 30, 2012

NASA scientists have confirmed that water persists as pockets of ice on the surface of the planet closest to our Sun.

Your Couch is Trying to Kill You

Published: November 29, 2012

Researchers find that banned, flame-retardant chemicals, embedded in sofas and baby products, are still abundant in some US homes.

NASA Scientists Keep Curiosity Finding Secret

Published: November 27, 2012

The Mars rover has reportedly made a major discovery, but the world won’t know what it is until next week at the earliest.

NIH To Enforce OA Policy

Published: November 20, 2012

The National Institutes of Health will get tough on grantees who fail to comply with its open-access funding rule.

Chelation Therapy Under Scrutiny

Published: November 15, 2012

A clinical trial suggesting the heart benefits of the controversial treatment draws criticism from the scientific community.

Coconut Gene Bank Threatened

Published: November 13, 2012

A deadly bacterial disease is knocking at the door of a crucial collection of coconut palms in Papua New Guinea.

Science and the 2012 Election

Published: November 8, 2012

From education to space, science fared well at the polls on Tuesday.

NYC’s Bloomberg Endorses Obama

Published: November 6, 2012

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announces his support for President Barack Obama's reelection, citing concern over climate change.

3-Year-Old Report Predicted NYC Flooding

Published: November 1, 2012

A New York City climate change brain trust warned of severe damage to the city that bears a striking resemblance to the chaos recently wrought by Hurricane Sandy.

AAAS: Don't Label GM Foods

Published: October 30, 2012

The American Association for the Advancement of Science says labeling genetically modified food products would be misleading.

Meet the Lady Gaga Ferns

Published: October 26, 2012

Culturally conscious researchers name a new plant genus after the reigning queen of pop.

Further Dismissal of GM Corn Study

Published: October 25, 2012

A handful of French science academies and government agencies add to a growing chorus of doubts that genetically modified corn causes tumors and early death in rats.

Italian Earthquake Researchers Jailed

Published: October 23, 2012

Seven people, including four scientists, are sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for failing to adequately assess the earthquake risk prior to a deadly 2009 quake.

Biologist Ruffles Feathers on Facebook

Published: October 19, 2012

The blogosphere voices widespread condemnation for a sexist comment made by a researcher attending this week’s annual Society for Neuroscience conference.

A Course in Self Sequencing

Published: October 11, 2012

Students at Mount Sinai School of Medicine can now take a class in which they can sequence and interpret their own genomes.

Cracking Down on Vaccinations

Published: October 9, 2012

A handful of US states are enacting laws that make it harder for parents to opt out of vaccinating their children against infectious diseases.

Australian Panel Recommends Science Revamp

Published: October 5, 2012

A government-created committee suggests that Australia reinvigorate its biomedical research enterprise.

Nobelist to Psychologists: Shape Up!

Published: October 3, 2012

Daniel Kahneman, who won a Nobel Prize in 2002, has issued a warning to a subset of his psychologist colleagues, telling them to increase the reproducibility of their research.

Analyzing a Genome per Day

Published: October 2, 2012

Technology company Knome unveils a machine it says will "break the bottleneck" in the interpretation of human genome data.

Researchers Discover New Element

Published: September 28, 2012

Japanese scientists have created a superheavy atom, potentially expanding the periodic table.

Chemist Admits to Mass Misconduct

Published: September 27, 2012

An analyst that worked for a state drug lab in Massachusetts has confessed to mishandling evidence in tens of thousands of drug cases.

Drugmakers Question FDA's Integrity

Published: September 26, 2012

Pharmaceutical and biotech companies ask the US Food and Drug Administration to ensure the independence of a third-party audit of its new drug program.

US Voters Oppose Science Cuts

Published: September 24, 2012

Many Americans who are likely to vote in upcoming elections are not in favor of across-the-board cuts to non-discretionary funding.

Thomson Reuters Predicts Nobel Winners

Published: September 20, 2012

The scientific publisher has released its annual citation-based predictions for whose names will be announced in Stockholm this October.

Sequestration Threatens Science

Published: September 19, 2012

If Congress can't reach an agreement on reducing the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion, automatic decreases to key federal science agency budgets go into effect.

University Library Ditches ACS

Published: September 18, 2012

In protest against high-priced journal packages, the library at SUNY Potsdam will end its subscription to American Chemical Society online journal package.

Dotting “i”s and Crossing “t”s

Published: September 17, 2012

As federal budgets tighten, the US government is getting serious about enforcing reporting and administrative rules that accompany academic grants.

Cantley Changes Jobs

Published: September 14, 2012

Renowned cancer researcher Lewis Cantley is leaving Harvard to lead a new cancer center at Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

Scientists "Spin" Results

Published: September 13, 2012

A new study of the scientific literature finds that researchers are guilty of overemphasizing the benefits of medical treatments.

UK Ponies Up for Open Access

Published: September 10, 2012

The United Kingdom government has devoted £10 million towards the goal of making all of the research it funds open access by next spring.

Democrats Approve Party Platform

Published: September 6, 2012

The Democratic Party reveals its positions on key policy issues, including those that affect the lives and work of scientists.

Tracking Research Productivity

Published: September 4, 2012

Thomson Reuters teams up with several North American universities to use a customized evaluation tool that analyses research impact on an institutional level.

FDA to Debate Starch Treatment

Published: August 31, 2012

The US Food and Drug Administration will consider whether or not to stop the use of intravenous starch solutions to replace lost blood.

Science and the GOP Platform

Published: August 31, 2012

Republicans unveil their quadrennial list of policy positions, and it toes the party line on some science issues while upping support for others.

Boston to Test Bioterror Sensors

Published: August 29, 2012

Federal officials will release harmless bacteria into subway tunnels beneath the Northeastern city to test new sensors designed to detect biological agents.

Calif RAs to Get Union Rights?

Published: August 27, 2012

The California legislature takes steps to broaden the ability of graduate students to unionize by extending collective bargaining rights to research assistants.

Pharma's Fake Innovation Crisis?

Published: August 13, 2012

Two medical professors contend that the pharmaceutical industry is really suffering from a drive to make only marginal improvements to existing drugs.

FDA Chiefs Knew About Spying

Published: August 8, 2012

Top FDA officials, including Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, were aware the agency was monitoring staff emails discussing the safety of some approved medical devices.

The Scientist's 5th Annual Top 10 Innovations Competition

Published: August 7, 2012

Submit your cutting-edge product to The Scientist Top Ten Innovations of 2012 contest and see which ones win!

Bioethics Panel on Genomics and Privacy

Published: August 6, 2012

The presidential bioethics brain trust unveils its draft recommendations on the use of whole genome sequencing in clinical care and research.

Kerfuffle Over Antishock Drug Paper

Published: August 3, 2012

A slight flaw in a study on the effectiveness of a drug widely used to combat shock in critically injured patients almost gets a Danish researcher sued for millions.

ArXiv Attracts Biologists

Published: August 1, 2012

Life scientists are increasingly posting manuscripts to the preprint server, joining the ranks of thousands of physicists.

Stem Cell Treatment = Drug

Published: July 30, 2012

A US federal court rules that procedures in which a patient's own stem cells are extracted, manipulated, and reinjected should be regulated by the FDA.