July 2012

New changes at The Scientist will ensure that we continue to showcase the best and brightest ideas in the life sciences.

July 2012's selection of notable quotes

Is printing out your own lab equipment, molecular models, and drug compounds the wave of the future?

Silk impregnated with bleach may provide a new way to fight the formidable spores of the anthrax bacterium.

Laser-based isotope detection systems are moving into the realm of food authentication.

ALS patients take their fate into their own hands, self-administering an unapproved chemical and collating their results online.

Dietary supplements can have serious side effects when mixed with prescription drugs, but not all herb-drug interactions are bad.

False credit for scientific discoveries threatens the success and pace of research.

Microscopic sponges made entirely of RNA enable efficient gene silencing.

Using tiny lipid discs, scientists resolve contradictory evidence about how many proteins are required for neurotransmitter release.

Making macrophages in atherosclerotic plaques digest spent organelles instead of dying may help keep plaques stable.

Retrotransposons contribute to genetic variability in human brain cells.

With persistence and pluck, Leslie Vosshall managed to snatch insect odorant receptors from the jaws of experimental defeat.

Senior Investigator, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Age 40

Synthetic biologists harness software to design genes and networks.

How to get the most out of your collaboration with bioinformaticians

Critics point out that cell therapy has yet to top existing treatments. Biotech companies are setting out to change that—and prove that the technology can revolutionize medicine.

Learning the intricacies of your own genetic profile is a double-edged sword.

The discovery of the 2.5-million-year-old Taung Child skull marked a turning point in the study of human brain evolution.

Meet some of the most famous fossil discoveries of the hominin clan in this slide show. 

View some molecular models produced by fast and inexpensive 3-D printing processes, and learn how they’re yielding a fuller understanding of biochemical interactions. 

One way to increase biofuel production is to engineer plants that can withstand harsh environmental conditions, thereby expanding the range in which such crops can be grown. 

Evolving, The Moral Molecule, Aping Mankind, and Experiment Eleven

Present in every tissue of the body, ubiquitin appears to be involved in a dizzying array of functions, from cell cycle and division to organelle and ribosome biogenesis, as well as the response to viral infection. The protein plays at least two role

Of the many available no- or low-carbon methods to harvest energy, including wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and solar approaches, conversion of plant biomass to liquid fuels is the most cost-effective strategy.

Despite its discovery as a protein that seems to show up everywhere, at least in eukaryotic cells, researchers are only beginning to scratch the surface of all of the cellular functions involving ubiquitin. 

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