Contributors Pascale Cossart is fascinated by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Cossart started studying the deadly pathogen in 1986 at the Pasteur Institute. At the time, numerous labs were trying to identify genes responsible for virulence in various bacteria. Her work with Listeria led to new concepts in infection biology. "By chasing answers to the questions that struck my curiosity, I've let Listeria lead me into new fiel
By Richard Gallagher The Last Act My final editorial. Ten problems I believe could bollix biology in years to come. After seven-and-a-half years as editor, and with 130-plus editorials behind me, I’m facing the tyranny of the blank page for the final time: my last editorial. How lucky I’ve been to be editor of this publication at this time. I often think of the poor editor of a glossy golf magazine who talked at a publishing me
Mail Promises, Promises Ok, this article about the dangers of scientific predictions1 is well written—but it is not saying anything hundreds have not said. Scientists make crazy promises. Hubris causes us to assert that we know what is right as though we have not been bitten by unintended consequences many, many times. But…there is plenty of blame to go around. Patients demand cures for complex diseases as though merely stomping your
By Jef Akst The successful squish GFP-tubulin spindle of a Ptk2 cell, before and after compression. Courtesy of Sophie Dumont It was the last week of her summer of research at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory on the coast of Massachusetts in 2007, and biophysicist Sophie Dumont decided to try one final experiment. With the state-of-the-art microscopes that had been loaned to the research station, Dumont started pressing on mammalian cells a
While mulling over ideas for a group project in a graduate-level class in community ecology in 2007, PhD student Ryan O’Donnell recalled a question that had been nagging him for years.
—Jef Akst Desperately seeking seahorses Where were they? It was a question that plagued me during my anxiety-ridden dives in the summer of 2008, as I paddled through the bathlike waters of Tampa Bay, Fla., hoping to find enough seahorses to complete my graduate degree in evolutionary biology. After a month and a half of fruitless searching, I finally threw in the rag and headed back to Indiana University with the dreaded “failed field seas
By Elizabeth A. Corley and Dietram A. Scheufele Outreach Going Wrong? When we talk nano to the public, we are leaving behind key audiences. Scholars, policy-makers, and outreach specialists in the nanotechnology community may be struggling with toxicological data and regulatory frameworks, but they seem to be able to agree on one thing: The public is unaware of the new technology and uninformed about the science behind it. Ironicall
By Steven Wiley Mind Your Manners We need to treat each other with respect, or all of science will suffer. Being dismissive and emotional during public discussions makes you look bad to other people and erodes your credibility. There has been a lot of talk in the media about the loss of courtesy in modern society. By many criteria, it seems that people in general have lost a degree of politeness. Reading some of the online comments after several rec
By Bob Grant Should Evolutionary Theory Evolve? Some biologists are calling for a rethink of the rules of evolution. Evolution, by its very nature, is a dynamic process. But just as fluid are humankind’s efforts to understand, describe, and conceptualize that process. Out went Lamarck, in came Darwin. Mendel’s insights set the rules for genetic inheritance, then certain exceptions to Mendel’s rules materialized. So forth
By Megan Scudellari Nice Shot Why vaccines are pharma’s Next Big Thing. ILLUSTRATION BY Jason Raish Late at night, a feverish young girl shuffled into her father’s room complaining of a sore throat. Maurice Hilleman examined the swollen bumps on his daughter’s neck. It was 1963. She had the mumps, a common childhood disease at the time, caused by a virus that inflames the salivary glands. Most cases are mild, but severe inf
By Katherine Bagley Tricky T Cells A new lymphocyte behind autoimmunity has created feverish excitement—and raised as many questions as it answers. TGF-β-Stimulated T cells; stained with a DNA-specific fluorochrome (blue), anti-RORγ (red) and anti-Foxp3 (green) monoclonal antibodies. Courtesy of Liang Zhou As the number of people suffering from autoimmune and inflammatory diseases continues to grow, scientists are
By Jef Akst Hindering HIV Courtesy of Devon Gregory and Marc Johnson The paper: S.J.D. Neil et al., “Tetherin inhibits retrovirus release and is antagonized by HIV-1 Vpu,” Nature 451:425–30, 2008. (Cited in 96 papers) The finding: To be released from some cells, HIV-1 requires an accessory protein called Vpu, suggesting that these cells carry a host factor that inhibits the release of virions
By Kelly Rae Chi Automate to Market Scientists-turned-entrepreneurs give their tips on creating an automated lab tool—and profiting from the fruits of their labors Automation is an area where life scientists often see opportunities for innovation; doing the same technique day in and day out unsurprisingly brings to mind ways to ease and speed the process. If you’ve invented an automated tool, colleagues in other labs could very likely benefi
By Deborah Douglas Transfer RNA Model, 1975 A wire model of tRNA. Top left is the “anticodon loop.” Courtesy of Deborah Douglas / MIT Museum In 1965, Cornell biochemist Robert Holley deciphered the 77 nucleotide sequence of transfer RNA. Three years later, Holley was awarded the Nobel Prize for this work, but already the race to determine tRNA’s three-dimensional structure was in full swing. At least six laboratories around the world
