Dream Engineers

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

As the world around us seems increasingly volatile, protecting and respecting the integrity of research and evidence becomes more important than ever.

Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse.

Then there are the counterfeiters.

Images from a Cold War spy satellite help researchers piece together the effects of land-use decisions in Kazakhstan.

The African Ancestry Neuroscience Research Initiative plans to boost inclusion in genomic studies and support a more diverse generation of neuroscientists.

A pathway involved in the adaptive immune system, a relative newcomer in the world of pathogen defense, may have a more ancient role in protecting cells from invading viruses.

The sperm, belonging to a tiny marine crustacean, dates back nearly 100 million years, making it the most ancient animal sperm found to date.

Brain cells in older Drosophila tend to have more than two complete sets of chromosomes, and that polyploidy most likely has a protective function, a study shows.

The newly minted Baylor College of Medicine faculty member is working to crack the mystery of triple negative breast cancer.

There are benefits of studying certain biological processes under microgravity, but whether those advantages outweigh the costs of getting experiments off Earth remains to be seen.

The scenarios that run through our sleeping brains may help us explore possible solutions to concerns from our waking lives.

Neuroscientist Rita Levi-Montalcini began her Nobel Prize–winning work in a makeshift laboratory in Italy during the Second World War.

Researchers are experimenting with a variety of tools, from brain stimulation to audiovisual equipment, to try to take control of the sleeping brain.

Nutrition researchers are beginning to use metabolomics to determine how healthy subjects’ diets are, and even to reveal specific properties of the foods they eat.

A recent study sheds light on a previously unknown mechanism for fending off the pathogen, and potentially other viruses as well.