Contributors
Contributors
Contributors
As a grad student at the University of Edinburgh, Elie Dolgin wrote and recorded science radio shows and podcasts in between experiments with C. elegans. Within only weeks of defending his thesis, Dolgin became an editorial intern at The Scientist. "I liked The Scientist because, even though I was no longer a practicing scientist, for the first time I felt I was part of a sc
Editorial
Innovation Imperiled
Innovation Imperiled
US healthcare needs radical revision, but we can't wipe out innovation in the process.
Mail
Mail
Citation debate hits Cell The general issue highlighted in the post "Critics rip Cell paper"1 and many of the comments that followed is one of "selective citation," in which papers fail to include all relevant prior art. I believe that this example reached the current level of scrutiny because the complainant, Peter Lawrence, is a well-known scientist and he was willing to raise a
Notebook
Smells funny?
Smells funny?
Scanning electron micrograph of the head of a female Anopheles gambiae mosquito, indicating the olfactory appendages (antennae, maxillary palps and proboscis) Credit: Courtesy of LJ Zwiebel, colorization by Dominic Doyle / Vanderbilt University" />Scanning electron micrograph of the head of a female Anopheles gambiae mosquito, indicating the olfactory appendages (antennae, maxillary p
Lost in space
Lost in space
Few people possess a perfect sense of direction. Some need a GPS just to find their wits. Then there's Patient 1. Patient 1, as Giuseppe Iaria and his colleagues refer to her in an online article in Neuropsychologia(doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.08.021), doesn't even try to drive because she gets turned around in her own neighborhood. Family and friends accompany her almost every
Bio-Microsoft
Bio-Microsoft
Drew Purves Credit: Courtesy of Microsoft Research" />Drew Purves Credit: Courtesy of Microsoft Research Drew Purves had been a postdoc at Princeton University for almost five years when he saw a weird job advertisement in August 2006. He and his companions in Stephen Pacala's lab were the techies of the ecology world, building mathematical models of forest ecosystems. Weaned on a Commodore-64 computer and the BASIC
Icy treasure
Icy treasure
The giant volcano sponge Anoxycalyx joubini can grow large enough for a diver to swim inside. Kim can now study these deep sponges using the SCINI. Credit: Courtesy of Stacy Kim" />The giant volcano sponge Anoxycalyx joubini can grow large enough for a diver to swim inside. Kim can now study these deep sponges using the SCINI. Credit: Courtesy of Stacy Kim Four decades ago, Paul Dayto
Uncategorized
Video: Icy Treasure
Video: Icy Treasure
Video: Icy Treasure
Laborin' lizards
Laborin' lizards
Anolis sagrei in Jamaica Credit: Courtesy of Luke Mahler / Harvard University" />Anolis sagrei in Jamaica Credit: Courtesy of Luke Mahler / Harvard University Head bobs, a series of quick pushups, and displays of a colorful double-chin. Life as a male anole lizard defending its territory against other male lizards is a lot of work. As is the life of the single-minded scientist who chooses to study them.
Video: Laborin' Lizards
Video: Laborin' Lizards
Video: Laborin' Lizards
Darwinian Time
Darwinian Time
Darwinian Time Does adaptation to an environment act as a speed bump for evolutionary change? By Andrea Gawrylewski Illustrations by JT Morrow Photos by Stephen Kennedy n a windowless room, three researchers hunker over a waist-high lab table. Dressed in white coats and latex gloves, the investigators, all members of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, get down to the business at hand: skinning frozen mice. Related Ar
Of cells and wires
Of cells and wires
Of cells and wires The first step to computer augmentation and neuroprosthetics lies in the connection between nerve cell and metal. How are scientists bridging the gap? By Edyta ZielinskaIllustrations by Thom GravesNeural probe illustrations by Christopher Burke. Provided courtesy of NeuroNexus Technologies, Ann Arbor, Michigan. he man skis down sharp inclines at tremendous speeds, sees wind frolic through a woman's hair as the French countryside passes outside of th
Priority Setting at the NIH
Priority Setting at the NIH
Priority Setting at the NIH © Dustin Fenstermacher / Wonderful Machine Nearly 10 years after stepping down as director, Harold Varmus reflects on his life at the agency, and some of the delicate negotiations that often precede funding decisions. By Harold Varmus Editor 's note : The following is an excerpt from Harold Varmus's upcoming memoir, The Art and Politics of Science, (Norton Books, Feb. 2009). In his book, Varmus recounts his days at
Out of the Frying Pan
Out of the Frying Pan
After trial-by-fire training during the feverish early days of HIV research, Amanda Fisher has kept up the pace in the hot fields of epigenetics and nuclear reprogramming.
Neuroprosthetics Today
Neuroprosthetics Today
Neuroprosthetics Today For more than 20 years, researchers at the Cleveland Functional Electrical stimulation (FES) Center have been training patients with paralysis to control their own neurological signals - not from electrodes in their brains (the focus of our feature Of Cells and Wires), but from those implanted in muscles. Watch the video below to learn how.
Opinion
Tackling Human Resources in Africa
Tackling Human Resources in Africa
How one institute leverages overseas talent to develop its research strategy.
Column
Don't Fight to be Cited
Don't Fight to be Cited
Forget and - submit your papers to the journals read by your grant reviewers.
Books etc.
The Disputed Rise of Mammals
The Disputed Rise of Mammals
Generating the most complete evolutionary tree for mammals sparks debate and discovery.
Hot Paper
Energetic senescence
Energetic senescence
Credit: Courtesy of Thomas von Zglinicki and PLoS Biology" /> Credit: Courtesy of Thomas von Zglinicki and PLoS Biology The paper: J. F. Passos et al., "Mitochondrial dysfunction accounts for the stochastic heterogeneity in telomere-dependent senescence," PLoS Biology, 5:1138, 2007. (Cited in 31 papers) The study: To investigate why cells senesce at different rates, Thomas von Zglinicki of
Fungus, decoded
Fungus, decoded
Credit: Courtesy of Fungal Biodiversity Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands" /> Credit: Courtesy of Fungal Biodiversity Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands The paper: H.J. Pel et al., "Genome sequencing and analysis of the versatile cell factory Aspergillus niger CBS 513.88," Nat Biotechnol, 25:221-31, 2007. (Cited in 65 papers) The gist: Hein Stam and colleagues at DSM Food Sciences in The Neth
Focus on phosphorylation
Focus on phosphorylation
Credit: Generated using Polyview-3D / A. Porollo, J. Meller (2007) Versatile Annotation and Publication Quality Visualization of Protein Complexes Using POLYVIEW-3D" /> Credit: Generated using Polyview-3D / A. Porollo, J. Meller (2007) Versatile Annotation and Publication Quality Visualization of Protein Complexes Using POLYVIEW-3D The paper: J. Villén et al., "Large-scale p
Scientist To Watch
Leonard Foster: A quantitative quality
Leonard Foster: A quantitative quality
Credit: © Robert Karpa" /> Credit: © Robert Karpa When he was a child growing up in northern British Columbia, Leonard Foster's great aunt spread natural willow extract over her garden to promote plant root growth; when Foster and his three younger siblings came down with sore throats, his mother served hot tea spiked with a resinous mixture, called propolis, which is made by honey bees. These traditional customs seemed to work. But Foster wasn't entirely convinced. Star
Lab Tools
Let's Get Physical
Let's Get Physical
How to modify your tools to prevent pain at the bench.
BioBusiness
The Mentorship Market
The Mentorship Market
New organizations want to help you succeed in biotech - for free.
Pulse Oximeter
Balancing Life and Science
Balancing Life and Science
How four successful scientists find time for their other passions, and why it's good for their science.
Foundations
Miller-Urey Amino Acids, circa 1953
Miller-Urey Amino Acids, circa 1953
Credit: Courtesy of Adam Johnson" /> Credit: Courtesy of Adam Johnson When chemistry graduate student Stanley Miller first heard University of Chicago professor and Nobel laureate Harold Urey's idea that organic compounds, such as amino acids, arose in a reducing atmosphere, Miller was determined to find out. Together, they built the spark-charge apparatus—two glass flasks connected by glass t