August 2018
Conscious Rodents?
The complex ethics of transplanting human brain organoids into rats and mice
Features
Reading Frames
Lessons from Biosphere 2
Both the scientific community and the general public still have a lot to learn from the largest mesocosm research project ever conducted.
Lab Tools
How to Track Metabolites in Tissues Using NMR
Whether it’s aligning software or prepping samples, researchers share their tips for studying the metabolome with this underused approach.
Profiles
The Cell’s Integrated Circuit: A Profile of Lucy Shapiro
Shapiro helped to found the field of systems biology.
Scientist To Watch
Heather Massey Respects Water
The University of Portsmouth sports scientist and open-water swimmer investigates the human body’s response to extreme conditions.
Notebook
Bacterial Genetics Could Help Researchers Block Interplanetary Contamination
Identifying microbes from Earth that can survive on spacecraft may help scientists eliminate them from future space missions and from searches for extraterrestrial life.
The Superpowers of Genetically Modified Pigs
Scientists have engineered swine that pollute less, fend off disease, and produce more meat, but you won’t find them outside experimental farms . . . yet.
Scientists Can’t Agree on What’s Making Pistachio Trees Sick
A new study ignites debate on the cause of pistachio bushy top syndrome, a disease that has crippled farms in California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Drones Are Changing the Face of Ecology
Unmanned aerial vehicles allow researchers to collect huge volumes of biological data cheaply, easily, and at higher resolution than ever before.
Do Electric Fish Dream in Zaps?
Studying electrical communication in the wild requires braving the Amazon jungle with sensitive equipment.
The Literature
How Ants Make Collective Decisions
Transport of food sways between two modes.
Oxytocin Makes Time Fly
Can people’s social skills affect their experience of time?
These Molecules Zipper Embryos Closed
Actin rings seal off the ball of cells, aiding in implantation in the uterus. But faults in the process could explain why some pregnancies fail.
Modus Operandi
Ready, Set, Glow
Tagging proteins with GFP-grabbing nanobodies enables instant tracking of the proteins’ dynamics in live cells.
Careers
Life Scientists Cut Down on Plastic Waste
Across the US, laboratories are finding creative ways to minimize the amount of plastic they throw away.
Critic at Large
Opinion: Learning from Immunotherapy’s Recent Failures
The promise of immunotherapy is real. We now need to figure out how to maximize the number of patients the approach benefits.
Editorial
Officially Intelligent
Humanity is on the precipice of major change. Some fear a world ruled by bots. I fear a world ruled by people.
Speaking of Science
Ten-Minute Sabbatical
Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse.
Foundations
From Railroad Tracks to Racetracks, 1870s
How a robber baron and an eccentric inventor solved a millennia-old question about horses.
