Features
Identifying Future Victims of Climate Change
Catherine Offord | Jul 1, 2018
Assessments of species vulnerability provide crucial information for conservation efforts. But the science behind them is still evolving.
Scientists Bring Ancient Proteins Back to Life
Amber Dance | Jul 1, 2018
Researchers are resurrecting proteins from millions of years ago to understand evolution and lay the groundwork for bioengineering custom molecules.
Why Human Speech Is Special
Philip Lieberman | Jul 1, 2018
Evolutionary changes in both the vocal tract and the brain were necessary for humans’ remarkable gift of gab.
Editorial
What's a Good Consumer To Do?
What's a Good Consumer To Do?
In a world beset by climate change, marine pollution, and dwindling natural resources, a member of the mushrooming human population pauses to consider his role.
Contributors
Contributors
Contributors
Meet some of the people featured in the July/August 2018 issue of The Scientist.
Speaking of Science
Ten-Minute Sabbatical
Ten-Minute Sabbatical
Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse.
Notebook
Hunting Regulations Shape Brown Bears’ Care for Cubs
Hunting Regulations Shape Brown Bears’ Care for Cubs
Scandinavian mother bears gain a survival advantage by weaning their babies later than normal, analysis of a 30-year dataset suggests.
Amazonians Offer Clues to Human Childhood Development
Amazonians Offer Clues to Human Childhood Development
A study of Shuar children in Ecuador provides a window into how the human body responds to infection in the sorts of conditions that shaped our species’ evolution.
Researchers Look to Sex Pheromones to Trap an Invasive Snake
Researchers Look to Sex Pheromones to Trap an Invasive Snake
The brown tree snake has wreaked havoc on the island of Guam, but one solution to the problem could lie in the serpent’s own physiology.
Why Are Modern Humans Relatively Browless?
Why Are Modern Humans Relatively Browless?
The function of early hominins’ enlarged brow ridges, and their reduction in size in Homo sapiens, have puzzled paleoanthropologists for decades.
Modus Operandi
Climate Change Research Gets Closer to Nature
Climate Change Research Gets Closer to Nature
Researchers devise more-realistic means of forecasting the effects of climate change on complex marine ecosystems.
The Literature
Satiated Fish Swim at the Back of the Pack
Satiated Fish Swim at the Back of the Pack
Digesting a big meal takes energy, forcing some minnows to swim in spots at the rear of a school.
Sinking Carbon
Sinking Carbon
With samples taken from the crust of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, researchers have discovered where some of the oceans’ dissolved organic carbon winds up.
Lantern in the Dark
Lantern in the Dark
Lanternfish evolution provides unique insights into how deep-sea species might respond to commercial fishing.
Profile
Deep Diver: A Profile of Cindy Van Dover
Deep Diver: A Profile of Cindy Van Dover
As the only woman who has piloted the deep-ocean research submersible Alvin, Van Dover is among the few researchers to have explored hydrothermal vents firsthand.
Scientist to Watch
Nick Pyenson Reconstructs Bygone Whale Populations Using Fossils
Nick Pyenson Reconstructs Bygone Whale Populations Using Fossils
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History paleobiologist also studies the evolution of echolocation and special sensory structures in modern whales.
Lab Tools
How to Calculate Mutation Rate for Evolutionary Biology
How to Calculate Mutation Rate for Evolutionary Biology
Four ways to study mutation rate, a crucial statistic in studies of evolution
Careers
Overcoming the Challenges of Studying Endangered Animals
Overcoming the Challenges of Studying Endangered Animals
From the difficulty of tracking rare populations to the danger of poachers exploiting distribution data, the complications of studying endangered species require creative solutions from researchers.
Reading Frames
How Live Capture Changed Scientific Views of Killer Whales
How Live Capture Changed Scientific Views of Killer Whales
Although highly controversial now, keeping orcas in captivity helped transform popular and scientific conceptions of the marine mammal from an unfeeling killer to a complex, intelligent animal.
Foundations
