The Scientist

Sitting around a table piled with seafood and wine, a group of scientists came up with an idea. It was the Fall of 2005, and the diners were from the DNA sequencing company 454 Life Sciences, celebrating the launch of the company's sequencing technology, the Genome Sequencer 20. 454 was established with the goal of making human genome sequencing an everyday technology, and that night the ambition seemed within reach. At the Stone House restaurant on the marina at Guildford,

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Lloyd Godson in front of the biosub before it was submerged. Credit: © John Egan/Australian Geographic Images" />Lloyd Godson in front of the biosub before it was submerged. Credit: © John Egan/Australian Geographic Images After living underwater for 13 days, Lloyd Godson started to feel a little weird. His blood pressure went through the roof, he struggled to fall asleep at night, and he had an unsettling feeling that the walls of the metal box he was living in were closing

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Credit: Courtesy of Kendall Clements" /> Credit: Courtesy of Kendall Clements Surgeonfish aren't as dedicated to life-saving as their name implies - quite the opposite, in fact. While sample-gathering in the Seychelles in May 2001, marine biologist J. Howard Choat wrongly assumed that he had killed a surgeonfish (genus Naso). When he took the fish off the spear, one of its razor-sharp caudal knives sliced open his right palm, severing two tendons. He received timely emergency care, b

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When the English racing driver Lewis Hamilton finished third at Formula One's Australian Grand Prix in March, it made him the first rookie driver to reach the podium since Canada's Jacques Villeneuve managed it 11 years before. During the race, commentators praised Hamilton's finesse and confidence as he steered his silver McLaren Mercedes through the streets of the Albert Park circuit, south of Melbourne. A few, notably racing legend Jackie Stewart, mentioned the extensive tra

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Credit: Courtesy of Janeet Stocks" /> Credit: Courtesy of Janeet Stocks On the first day of school after spring break, nine British children had an unusual tale to tell regarding "what I did on my vacation": They climbed Mount Everest. At least part of it, that is. Ranging in age from 6 to 13 years, the kids were part of an expedition that Janet Stocks led. As a professor of respiratory physiology at University College London, Stocks designed a study to investigate how

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