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Jef Akst

Jef Akst

Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.

Articles by Jef Akst

Spontaneous speciation?

Jef Akst | | 3 min read

In a world without natural selection and no vast mountain ranges dividing populations, one might expect biodiversity to remain forever stagnant. But according to a study published this week in Nature, new species can arise arbitrarily and without provocation, challenging the widely held notion that physical isolation and selection are the driving forces behind speciation. Image: Wikimedia commons"So much of ecology and evolutionary biology is based on this idea of adaptive divergence leading to

FASEB head outlines funding goals

Jef Akst | | 4 min read

linkurl:Mark Lively,;http://www1.wfubmc.edu/biochem/Faculty/Lively.htm a professor of biochemistry at Wake Forest University, took over as the president of the linkurl:Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB);http://www.faseb.org/ on July 1 of this year. In a conversation with The Scientist, Lively outlines some of FASEB's goals for the upcoming year, including the organization's views on what to do when the $10.4 billion in stimulus funds for the NIH runs out. Imag

The bio-comedian

Jef Akst | | 3 min read

It may be hard to find the humor in biology for researchers crouched over lab benches or dozing through yet another conference presentation. What's so funny about biology? Plenty, if you ask ecologist-turned-comedian linkurl:Tim Lee,;http://www.powerpointcomedian.com/ who draws on years of formal scientific training and research experience to spin the banalities of biology into standup success. Lee features the sometimes tedious PowerPoint medium popular for presenting scientific research as his

Embryonic twist yields turtle shell

Jef Akst | | 3 min read

The bizarre body plan of turtles may be less of an evolutionary feat than scientists once believed. According to a linkurl:study;http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/325/5937/193 published online today in Science, the unique organization of the ribs and the development of the unusual shell that turtles call home may be explained by a relatively small structural variation from their animal relatives that occurs during embryonic development. Image: Wikimedia commons"The turtle body plan

New FASEB head takes office

Jef Akst | | 1 min read

linkurl:Mark Lively,;http://www1.wfubmc.edu/biochem/Faculty/Lively.htm who took office as the 94th president of the linkurl:Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB);http://www.faseb.org/ last week (July 1), plans to focus the group's policy efforts on issues such as animal use in research, rules for conflicts of interest, and biosecurity regulations relating to the use of select agents, FASEB said in a statement. Image: Wake Forest University School of Medicine"I think

Animal use details to go online

Jef Akst | | 2 min read

The linkurl:United States Department of Agriculture (USDA);http://www.usda.gov/ must post annual reports from animal research facilities that document the levels of pain and distress experienced by animals in experimental procedures, according to a court settlement last week (July 1) of a lawsuit between the USDA and linkurl:The Humane Society of the United States.;http://www.hsus.org/ Image: Wikimedia commons"We have been taking a variety of steps to increase transparency on a number of issue

Stately STAT

Jef Akst | | 2 min read

By Jef Akst Stately STAT © Stem Jems / Photo Researchers, Inc. The paper: X. O. Yang et al., "STAT3 regulates cytokine-mediated generation of inflammatory helper T cells," J Biol Chem, 282:9358–63, 2007. (Cited in 118 papers) The finding: Chen Dong and his colleagues at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, modulated the expression levels of a transcription factor called STAT3 in undifferentiat

Limbs regrow without pluripotency

Jef Akst | | 3 min read

The cells responsible for the salamander's famed ability to regenerate amputated limbs aren't pluripotent, as scientists have thought, a linkurl:study published online in Nature;http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7251/abs/nature08152.html today reports. That's good news for regenerative medicine: If the mechanism salamander cells use for regrowing body parts doesn't depend on pluripotent stem cells, it may be easier than researchers have assumed to mimic that organism's regenerative stra

Snakes trick prey for easy meal

Jef Akst | | 3 min read

Water snakes trick their fish prey into swimming directly into their waiting jaws, according to a linkurl:study published in PNAS;http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/06/18/0905183106.abstract last week (June 19). With a subtle body movement, the tentacled snakes trigger a preprogrammed escape response in fish, causing them to flee in a predictable direction so that the snakes know just where to positions their heads for an easy meal. Image: Ryan Somma, Wikimedia commons"It's a very clever ma

A downside to female promiscuity

Jef Akst | | 3 min read

A new study has revealed a mating conundrum in the animal kingdom: Less fit male seed beetles father more offspring than their high quality competitors when they mate with the same female, says a linkurl:paper published online;http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/324/5935/1705 today in Science. The findings contradict the widespread belief that females can benefit from taking multiple mates by allowing the best male to father the kids. Female (right) and male seed beetles in mating p

Evolution speeds up in the tropics

Jef Akst | | 3 min read

Tropical mammals are evolving faster than those found at high latitudes or elevations, according to a study published online today (June 23) in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. This pattern had previously been found in plants and marine protists but until now was assumed to apply only to cold-blooded organisms. Structure of DNA helixImage: Richard Wheeler, Wikimedia Commons "There's lots of reasons to believe that temperature plays a substantial role in generating [differences in the rate of

Finch researchers win Kyoto Prize

Jef Akst | | 3 min read

linkurl:Peter;http://www.princeton.edu/eeb/people/display_person.xml?netid=prgrant&display=All and linkurl:Rosemary Grant,;http://www.princeton.edu/eeb/people/display_person.xml?netid=rgrant&display=All emeritus professors at Princeton University who were the first to document natural selection in action, have won the 2009 Kyoto Prize in the category of Basic Sciences for their work on evolutionary adaptations in response to environmental flux. Image: Denise ApplewhitePrinceton University"I can