January 2012

There is definitely no shortage of technological innovation in the life sciences.

January 2012's selection of notable quotes

An intrepid researcher and her team battle the elements and bouts of misfortune to explore the biodiversity of a brand new African country.

Genotyping could answer a centuries-old mystery about a vanished group of British settlers.

On the tenth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, wildlife biologists reminisce about the role they played in the recovery of human remains.

A mutated feline receptor for sweet tastes explains why cats don’t love sugar but do dig mushrooms.

Twenty-first century challenges to the public health of all the world’s populations require forward-looking commitments from epidemiologists.

Academic detailing has the potential to significantly improve clinical practice.

Now RNA can glow in the cell, as only proteins could in the past.

Editor’s choice in cell biology

Editor’s choice in structural biology

Editor’s choice in immunology

Elaine Mardis can make DNA sequencers sing, generating genome data that shed light on evolution and disease.

Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Western Ontario. Age: 34

Tools and tricks for high-throughput flow cytometry

A Swiss-based firm may have a back-door way to thwart a bioterrorist attack—by fighting the flu.

Should we rethink the parallel drawn between “slave-making” ants and human slavery, and other such oversimplifications of animal behavior?

How Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock nearly gave up genetics for meteorology

In July 1587, a British colonist named John White accompanied 117 people to settle a small island sheltered within the barrier islands of what would become North Carolina’s Outer Banks. 

Bucknell University mammalogist DeeAnn Reeder raises nets high into the darkened forest canopies of South Sudan to catch bats.

Our Dying Planet, Here Be Dragons, Rat Island, Harnessed

Meet some of the people featured in the January 2012 issue of The Scientist.

Not all inflammation leads to pain. Despite widespread infection followed by fever, colds rarely cause pain. But when some cytokines and certain immune cells are active near pain-sensing nerves, they trigger receptors that convey pain sensations to the brain.

In its brief, 4-year history, The Scientist’s annual Top 10 Innovations contest has become a showcase of the coolest life science tools to emerge in the previous year.