Scientists' picks as their top suppliers of key instruments and services.

Viruses in the deepest ocean environments are unexpectedly strong regulators of the linkurl:deep sea biosphere,;http://www.the-scientist.com/2008/8/1/57/2/ according to a paper published tomorrow (August 28) in Nature. By infecting and killing bacteria and other prokaryotes viruses are the main producers of the organic matter that sustains life at 1000 meters deep and below. By generating this biomass, viruses also make major contributions to the carbon cycle and other linkurl:geochemical proc

If you're found guilty of plagiarism or linkurl:scientific fraud,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/15418/ is your academic career as a researcher over? Not according to a study published in Science tomorrow (August 8), which contradicts a long-standing assumption by suggesting that rebuilding a career after a misconduct finding is difficult, but not impossible. "While the punishments [for misconduct] are severe, there are hopes for redemption," said linkurl:Jon Merz;http://www.bioe

Credit: Courtesy of Jed Fuhrman / University of Southern California" /> Credit: Courtesy of Jed Fuhrman / University of Southern California The paper: M.L. Sogin et al., "Microbial diversity in the deep sea and the underexplored 'rare biosphere,'" Proc Nat Acad Sci, 103:12115-20, 2006. (Cited in 81 papers) The finding: In 2006, Mitchell Sogin of the Marine Biological La

John Prakash was once denied a job because of the way he looked. Now he spends his career talking about why diversity is crucial to drug development.

A biodefense researcher committed suicide this week, just as the US government was about to indict him for the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people and caused a national panic. The microbiologist, Bruce E. Ivins, whose death was first reported today (August 1) in the linkurl:Los Angeles Times,;http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-anthrax1-2008aug01,0,2864223.story?page=1, was a top scientist at a US Army biodefense research facility in Fort Detrick, Md., where he worked

All researchers conducting studies with human subjects and members of institutional review boards may soon have to undergo mandatory training in human research ethics. According to a linkurl:notice;http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-14917.htm in the Federal Register yesterday (July 1), the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) is seeking public comment on whether such training should be required. According to the notice, also reported in the linkurl:Chronicle of Higher Education,;htt

Video: ZebrafishThis video shows the beating of a zebrafish heart that has been treated with a compound, discovered in the lab of Randall Peterson, which makes the atrium beat twice for every beat of the ventricle. Related Articles Drug fishing Hooked by the Bait WNTer wonderland

Three day old transgenic zebrafish in which a blue fluorescent protein is expressed under control of the cardiac myosin light chain 2 promoter. Credit: Courtesy of Peter Schlueter" />Three day old transgenic zebrafish in which a blue fluorescent protein is expressed under control of the cardiac myosin light chain 2 promoter. Credit: Courtesy of Peter Schlueter In one tank at the zebrafish fac

Uncovering the molecular identity of a strange cellular channel triggers a rush of discoveries in calcium regulation.

A structural brain map -- the most detailed to date -- provides support for a controversial theory of a "default" state of brain activity, and could bring key insights into the physiological basis of illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, and Alzheimer's disease. Researchers have identified a set of axonal pathways in the human cerebral cortex that forms structural "core" of the cortex -- a neuronal nexus that acts as the main relay station between disparate brain regions involved in cogn

A former US army biodefense researcher who was a "person of interest" in the still-unsolved case of the 2001 anthrax letters and who sued the government, claiming the investigation ruined his reputation, will receive a $5.8 million settlement from the Justice Department. The FBI turned its attention on the researcher, linkurl:Steven J. Hatfill,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/20669/ in 2002 as part of its investigation of the mysterious anthrax case that caused the death of five p