An Infant's Bounty

Meet some of the people featured in the June 2020 issue of The Scientist.

Pretending to be a javelin aficionado is one thing. Professing to have real insight into the ongoing pandemic is quite another.

Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse.

Elevated levels of a neurotoxin in northeastern Brazil’s drinking water and a high incidence of microcephaly in the region led scientists to look for a link, and they found one.

An undergraduate research project finds the animals are tuned in to reassuring information from other species.

Researchers use advanced imaging techniques to see what happens when a male and a female mate.

The BioCollective, a company that transforms whole stool samples into microbial metadata, is developing the US’s first national microbiome reference material.

A novel preparation technique could facilitate vaccine preservation, transportation, and administration.

During bacterial infection, autophagy proteins appear to regulate the release of cell-saving exosomes, which bear the brunt of toxin damage.

Wing development in females is environmentally controlled, but in males, an insertion on the sex chromosome appears to dictate whether the insects grow wings, according to a study.

A study uncovers connections between the bacteria in our guts and our social lives.

By revealing that animals could develop immune responses against their own tissues, the physician-scientist established an entirely new field of science.

The Salk Institute researcher was one of the first to show that killing a pathogen isn’t the only way to survive an infection.

Early career researchers face unique challenges when a senior collaborator becomes embroiled in allegations of scientific malpractice.

Evolution needn’t make improbable leaps to facilitate transitions into uncharted biological territory. Adapting new uses for existing structures works just fine.

Microbiologist Maurice Hilleman foresaw the global spread of a novel influenza strain in 1957. His vaccine saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

Aminoacyl tRNA synthetases picked up new protein domains that participate in vasculature formation around the same time that organisms evolved key adaptations in the circulatory system.

When the nucleic acid spirals to the left, it takes on a zig-zag shape known as Z-DNA that appears to regulate RNA editing.

The microbial makeup of a newborn baby’s intestines has changed dramatically over the past 100 years, and we are now beginning to understand how and why this matters.

Specialized exosomes sop up bacterial toxins, a study finds.

How an experimental preparation technique could make vaccines easier to transport, store, and administer