Meet some of the people featured in the June 2012 issue of The Scientist.

Metagenomic sequencing can help detect unknown pathogens, but its widespread use faces challenges.

Thirty years out from the start of the Human Genome Project, researchers have finally finished sequencing the full 3 billion bases of a person’s genetic code. But even a complete reference genome has its shortcomings.

Introducing the winners of our second annual "Labbies" awards

The versatility of geometric shapes made from the nucleic acid are proving useful in a wide variety of fields from molecular computation to biology to medicine.

Leonard Hayflick has been unafraid to speak his mind, whether it is to upend a well-entrenched dogma or to challenge the federal government. At 86, he’s nowhere near retirement.

Glial cells were once considered neurons’ supporting actors, but new methods and model organisms are revealing their true importance in brain function.

More than 80 percent of the planet's living organisms exist only in aquatic ecosystems. Some may harbor secrets to human origins, and clues, treatments--perhaps even cures--for human disease. Some are critical bioindicators that portend the health of the biosphere. Yet, overall, scientists know little about the biochemical processes of these life forms. The vast, rich knowledge within the oceans and freshwater systems on Earth remains virtually untapped, because in the world of biological resear

Swiss anthropologist Jeremy Narby counts himself among the relatively thin ranks of scientists willing to publicly announce their conviction that nature is "minded," that an intelligence lies behind the development of life. Such a position is heresy to the prevailing scientific view of naturalism, which holds that nature is self-sufficient and the result of undirected processes. These two differing viewpoints usually are framed in the context of a debate between theology and science--creationis

Introductory general biology courses and textbooks cover a vast amount of material. They tend to stress the similarities of life at the molecular and cellular levels, with Homo sapiens considered but one of many species. For students wishing to learn specifically about the female body, or about differences between the sexes, these courses aren't usually appropriate. ANALOGY: Like women's absence in past medical tests and clinical trials, many problems have not been addressed in biology, anat