The Scientist

Capsule Reviews

Masters of the Planet, Learning from the Octopus, Darwin’s Devices, and Psychology’s Ghosts

Contributors

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

Designing Transition-State Inhibitors

A transition-state mimic has the power to bind an enzyme at its tipping point as strongly as any available inhibitor and more strongly than most, preventing enzymatic activity. In order to replicate the structure of an enzyme’s transition state, whic

Telomere Basics

Telomeres are repetitive, noncoding sequences that cap the ends of linear chromosomes. They consist of hexameric nucleotide sequences (TTAGGG in humans) repeated hundreds to thousands of times. Telomeres protect the protein-coding sequences of DNA on

Spot the Moth

It’s a well-known story: The peppered moth’s ancestral typica phenotype is white with dark speckles. In the decades following the Industrial Revolution, a new, soot-colored form, known as carbonaria, flourished and displaced the typica moths in the h

With All Due Consideration

Scientists and their many hats

Speaking of Science

May 2012's selection of notable quotes

The Sound of Color

A completely colorblind musician and painter perceives the world in a new way with help from technology.

From Squeaks to Song

House mice sing melodies out of the range of human hearing, and the crooning is impacting research from evolutionary biology to neuroscience.

Mighty Moth Man

An evolutionary biologist’s posthumous publication restores the peppered moth to its iconic status as a textbook example of evolution.

It’s Raining Mice

A new brown tree snake control strategy takes to the skies as scientists scatter toxic rodents over Guam’s forest canopy.

Cooking Up Creative Solutions

More collaborators and more data are the key ingredients.

Bubble Vision

Turning a liability into an asset, cryo-electron microscopists exploit an artifact to probe protein structure.

The Sugar Lnc

Genes that react to cellular sugar content are regulated by a long non-coding RNA via an unexpected mechanism

Tumor Turnabout

A cytokine involved in suppressing the immune system may actually activate it to kill cancer cells.

Ginormous Genome

Researchers find organisms with huge genomes with high mutation rates, overturning a common expectation in evolutionary biology.

Burgers and Flies

Inspired by Darwin, Mohamed Noor has uncovered the molecular dance by which a single species becomes two.

Robert Blelloch: Teacher, Doctor, Scientist

Associate Professor, Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco. Age: 45

SPRead Your Antibody Capabilities

Using surface plasmon resonance to improve antibody detection and characterization: four case studies

Pure Pursuits

Techniques for simpler, cheaper, and better antibody purification

Treating Fat with Fat

Is brown fat ready for therapeutic prime time?

Dopamine: Duality of Desire

Being an ex-drug-addict turned neuroscientist brings a unique insight into the physiological and phenomenological realities of addiction.

Boyle’s Monsters, 1665

From accounts of deformed animals to scratch-and-sniff technology, Robert Boyle's early contributions to the Royal Society of London were prolific and wide ranging.