CONTENTS

June 2008

Evolution's real problem, ERIC SMITH argues, is that it doesn't quite explain the original emergence of life from a lifeless geosphere. But a remarkable picture is emerging, he says, that suggests that much simpler principles than those devised by Darwin may describe the early earth, and serve as the foundation for biosynthesis in every kind of ecosystem.

RELATED:

Infographic: The Citric Acid Cycle

Mendel Upended?

Evolution, over easy

The Powers that Might Be

Recently, GlaxoSmithKline convinced Roche to sell its controversial obesity drug, and then convinced the US Food and Drug Administration to let GSK sell the drug over-the-counter, without a prescription. FRAN HAWTHORNE talks to key players and analysts to present the story you didn't see of the first diet drug's move to drugstore shelves.

RELATED:

Infographic: Three obesity drugs

The Good Fat

The Future of the FDA

The Trouble with Tech Transfer

The competitive world of industry fosters an appetite to get ahead. In our sixth annual survey, ELIE DOLGIN uncovers the recipe for a successful workplace. Plus, see charts of this year's top companies, and take a closer look at high ranking Organon and Lexicon Pharmaceuticals.

RELATED:

New opportunities at Organon

Lone-star pharma

Survey Methodology

Slideshow: BPTW 2008 Industry

Demographic Charts

Ranking Tables:

Top 30

Top Large

Top Small

Downloadable PDFs

CONTRIBUTORS

MAIL

EDITORIAL

From Me to We The Scientist Community is about to take off. We hope you'll join us.
RICHARD GALLAGHER

COLUMNS

Why National Laboratories? For certain experiments, I've learned that there's no better place to do biology.
STEVEN WILEY

OPINION

Academic Medicine to the Rescue? Full partnerships with the industry are spawning a new era of translational medicine.
J. LYNN RUTKOWSKI & GIORA Z. FEUERSTEIN

Notebook

The Agenda; Cave crawler; The worm hunter; Slideshow: Fruit Worms ; Finding the false; Inducing autism; Unlocking the clock

FOUNDATIONS

C. elegans cell lineage, circa 1981

PROFILES

A Mind Apart Sean Eddy uses his decades of experience playing video games to design software that found an entire new class of genes. And he's still looking.
KAREN HOPKIN

Scientist to Watch: Peter Reddien Making heads or tails of it

BIOBUSINESS: Win, Place, or Cell Can a company harness stem cells to treat injured horses?
MARGARET GUTHRIE

THE LITERATURE

Hot paper: Parsing Out Pluripotency Clues to why pluripotent stem cells differentiate or remain pluripotent.
ANDREA GAWRYLEWSKI

Hot paper in Genomics: Human selection

Hot paper in Ecology: Predicting distribution

Hot paper in Neurobiology: Learning synapses

Citation Classic: 25 Years Ago in Immunology Indentifying the retrovirus that causes AIDS

View other Citation Classics

LAB TOOLS

Shaping Up How to find your way around three-dimensional cell culture. Plus, researchers describe their preferred methods for 3-D culturing: In stock; Home-made matrix; Mixed gel; Planar imaging; and Commercial 3D matrices. And Tips for setting up 3-D cell cultures
JOSH ROBERTS

CAREERS

The Industry Roads Less Taken Four high-paying, in-demand, industry jobs scientists often overlook, and tips on how to get in: Regulatory Affairs; Preclinical Research; Project Management; and Process Development
TOBY FREEDMAN