
Features

A Dog’s View of Optical Illusions

Human Fetuses Can Contract SARS-CoV-2, but It’s Rare
Modus Operandi

Light-Activated Molecules Stop Apoptosis at the Flip of a Switch
A new inhibitor gives researchers the ability to control programmed cell death in cultured human T cells.
Infographics

Infographic: Light Triggers Photocage Opening, Apoptosis Inhibition
Researchers develop a caspase inhibitor that only works after being irradiated with UV light, giving them control over apoptosis in human cells.

Infographic: What Do Dogs Perceive?
Researchers use optical illusions to investigate canine perception.

Infographic: How SARS-CoV-2 Might Travel from Mom to Fetus
The virus rarely spreads from mother to child before birth, but it can—and researchers are starting to investigate the path it takes.
The Literature

New Screening Approach Reveals Novel Regulators of Microcephaly
Researchers combine organoids, CRISPR-Cas9, and cellular barcoding technologies to identify genes that influence brain size.

How RNAs Called SINEUPs Upregulate Translation
The recently discovered long noncoding RNAs seem to boost the production of specific proteins in the cell by interacting with RNA-binding proteins, researchers find.
Scientist to Watch

Celine Frere Chases Dragons and Koalas to Learn How They Adapt
The biologist at the University of Sunshine Coast in Australia wants to understand why some animal species adapt well to urbanization, while others fall flat.
Notebook

Tardigrades’ List of Super Powers Grows Ever Longer
Water bears can survive extreme temperatures, oxidative stress, UV radiation, and more, but as work in climate change biology shows, they’re not invulnerable to everything.

Honeybee Microbes Shape the Colony’s Social Behavior
Recent research shows that the insect’s microbial community is central to protecting the hive from invaders—both big and small.
Careers

Steps to End “Colonial Science” Slowly Take Shape
Scientists from countries with fewer resources are pushing collaborators from higher-income countries to shed biases and behaviors that perpetuate social stratification in the research community.
Reading Frames

A Geneticist’s Quest to Understand His Son’s Mysterious Disease
Ronald Davis of Stanford University changed his focus to research on ME/CFS, the disease formerly known as chronic fatigue syndrome, in a bid to help his son and others like him.
Critic at Large

Opinion: Blowing the Whistle on Research Grant Fraud
Reporting cases of misconduct in the context of federal science funding can be a daunting task. But mechanisms to support whistleblowers do exist.
Foundations

Introducing Inoculation, 1721
As a deadly smallpox outbreak ravaged Boston, one of the city’s leaders advocated for a preventive measure he’d learned about from Onesimus, an enslaved man.
Speaking of Science

Ten Minute Sabbatical
Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse.
Editorial

An End in Sight
Last year humanity confronted our biggest challenge in a century. Science helped us see the light at the end of the tunnel. But we need to keep moving forward to emerge.