January 2008

F. Stuart Chapin III, known as Terry, has been a professor of ecology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks since 1973. He studies the effects of changes in climate and wildfire on Alaskan ecology, with a particular focus on developing sustainable ecosystems and human communities. In this issue, Chapin introduces a five-part feature on the effects of climate change on the biosphere. "Scientific assessments now clearly demonstrate the ecological and societal consequences of huma

Credit: Dirk Goldhahn" /> Credit: Dirk Goldhahn CLIMATE AND BIOLOGY >> In this issue, we explore the ways that climate change might be having an impact on the biosphere. Read about ways to mitigate the consequences of global warming in the latest report, published this month, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. To order, click here. HEART HEALING >> Last year, Doug Bergman enrolled in a clinical trial testing whether stem cells could repair

Credit: Kenneth Eward / Photo Researchers, Inc" /> Credit: Kenneth Eward / Photo Researchers, Inc The paper: S. Shenoy et al., "β-Arrestin-dependent, G protein-independent ERK1/2 activation by the β2 adrenergic receptor," J Biol Chem, 281:1261-73, 2006. (Cited in 50 papers) The finding: In 2005, while screening for G protein-independent arrestin signaling on the widely studied ERK pathway, Robert Lefkowitz's group at Duke University

Credit: Left: David Hall / Photo Researchers, Inc" /> Credit: Left: David Hall / Photo Researchers, Inc The paper: F. Delsuc et al., "Tunicates and not cephalochordates are the closest living relatives of vertebrates," Nature, 439:965-8, 2006. (Cited in 116 papers) The finding: Using a data set of 146 nuclear genes, including tunicate data from the Oikopleura dioica genome project, Frédéric Delsuc and his colleagues from the Univers

Credit: Courtesy of Fawzi Razem" /> Credit: Courtesy of Fawzi Razem The paper: F.A. Razem et al., "The RNA-binding protein FCA is an abscisic acid receptor," Nature, 439:290-4, 2006. (Cited in 82 papers) The finding: Scientists searched for the receptor for abscisic acid hormone in plants for almost 45 years until Robert Hill at the University of Manitoba and colleagues used antibodies to find it. They identified a candidate protein called

In a Citation Classic, a virologist recalls developing a green dye that is now a staple in immunofluorescence

Credit: © Leah Fasten Photography" /> Credit: © Leah Fasten Photography As a postdoc in Irving Weissman's laboratory at Stanford University, Amy Wagers earned a reputation for putting other people's findings to the test. In 2002 Wagers published evidence contrary to claims that bone marrow-derived stem cells could transdifferentiate into brain, muscle, and other tissues.1 In 2004, she found that hematopoietic stem cells could not repair damaged myocardium,2 despite other ev

Three primary human neutrophils within a microfluidic channel responding to a gradient of Interleukin-8 (labeled with a green fluorophore) by chemotaxing to a higher concentration (left). Panels are frames from a movie, taken 10 minutes apart. Credit: Courtesy of Mary Lokuta / University of Wisconsin, Madison" />Three primary human neutrophils within a microfluidic channel responding to a gradient of Interleukin-8 (labeled with a green fluorophore) by chemotaxing to a higher concentration (left)