science history

Now hailed as the father of immunotherapy, William Coley pioneered extraordinary methods to treat cancer.

Fifteen years after publication of the human genome’s first draft sequence, what has become of the hundreds of researchers who worked on the project?

Lisa Jardine, former chair of the U.K.’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, has passed away at age 71.

Welcome to the Microbiome, The Paradox of Evolution, Newton's Apple, and Dawn of the Neuron.

A rash of deformed lambs eventually led to the creation of a cancer-fighting agent.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of an autopsy report describing the first known case of a sexual development disorder.

In his bathysphere, William Beebe plumbed the ocean to record-setting depths.

In Chapter 1, “The Problem,” author Jerry Coyne sets the historical stage for his suggestion that science and religion are not compatible and never will be.

See how William Beebe and Otis Barton descended to the ocean's depths in an early submersible designed to allow access to the mysterious lifeforms inhabiting the deep sea.

A German naturalist trains a keen eye and a microscope on a tiny crustacean to unlock its secrets.

As the science of paleoanthropology developed, human evolutionary trees changed as much as the minds that constructed them.

June 2015's selection of notable quotes

While some in the scientific and religious communities have declared an end to the tensions between faith and fact, the conflict continues to have impacts on health, politics, and the environment.

The tale of p53, a widely studied tumor suppressor gene, illustrates the inventiveness of researchers who turn mishaps into discoveries.

In Chapter 12, "Of Mice and Men," author Sue Armstrong recounts the point at which researchers moved from working with p53 in tissue culture to studying the gene in animal models.

Galileo’s improvements to the microscope led to the first published observations using such an instrument.

Carl Linnaeus's lasting impact on biological science

First described in the late 19th century, then lost from the literature for more than 100 years, the vertical occipital fasciculus appears to be important in visual processing.

Emil du Bois-Reymond’s innovations for recording electrical signals from living tissue set the stage for today’s neural monitoring techniques.

Meet some of the people featured in the September issue of The Scientist.