Features
Slideshows

Discovering Phasmids
Shortly after a rat infested supply ship ran around in Lord Howe Island off the east coast of Australia in 1918, the newly introduced mammals wiped out the island's phasmids—stick insects the size of a human hand.

Surgical Art
In 1929 and 1930, Johns Hopkins Medical School surgeon Warfield Firor carried out a series of experiments to determine how long blood could flow between animals with joined circulatory systems. Without using any anti-coagulants, Firor attempted to es

Best in Industry, 2012
Whether working for a pharmaceutical giant or a biotech start-up with a unique vision, researchers who responded to this year’s Best Places to Work in Industry survey are translating society’s most pressing scientific needs into a new generation of drugs, research tools, and cutting-edge innovations.
Critic at Large

Food for Thought
Plant research remains grossly underfunded, despite the demand for increased crop production to support a growing population.

Regulations for Biosimilars
As biologic drug patents begin to expire, generic versions will hit the market—but how will they be regulated?
Capsule Reviews

Capsule Reviews
The Aha! Moment, Imagine, Ignorance, and The Age of Insight
The Literature

Growing Human Eggs
Germline stem cells discovered in human ovaries can be cultured into fresh eggs.

Interfering with Resistance
Drug efficacy and resistance mechanisms shine a light on how drugs enter cells, which could facilitate the development of new sleeping-sickness treatments.

Grading on the Curve
Actin filaments respond to pressure by forming branches at their curviest spots, helping resist the push.
Reading Frames

Migration: Micro and Macro
Biology and history both tell us that life began with migration: from cells to sharks, hummingbirds to human beings, life migrates for three reasons—survival, protection, and reproduction.
Notebook

Finding Phasmids
Researchers rediscover a giant insect, thought to have gone extinct a century ago, and plan to reintroduce it to its native island off the coast of Australia.

A Can of Worms
Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History use DNA barcoding to show that even sardines infected with nematodes can still be kosher.

From Bones to Brains
With the help of a mother, one researcher uncovered a common link between autism and a devastating bone disease.

Space Rocks
Orbiting ultrasound machines are being used to diagnose and treat astronauts' kidney stones.
Contributors

Contributors
Meet some of the people featured in the June 2012 issue of The Scientist.
Infographics

Digging the Underground Life
A rare peek inside the subterranean home of the naked mole-rat

Pain Free
One of the naked mole-rat’s amazing qualities is the reduced ability to feel certain kinds of pain.

Delivering New Genes
Gene therapies typically involve the introduction of genetic material into target cells to replace or supplement an existing, usually dysfunctional, gene.

Messing with HIV
Sangamo Biosciences is putting a different spin on gene therapy.
Modus Operandi

Tracing the Ephemeral
A novel reporter system can track the ever-changing levels of the plant signal auxin with great precision.
Editorial

Avant-Garde Science
Why naked mole-rats and experimental gene therapies remind me of groundbreaking artists.
Careers

Motivate Your Lab
How to run an efficient and creative lab without micromanaging
Foundations

The Blood Exchange, Circa 1930
Early 20th century cross circulation experiments on dogs paved the way for milestones in human cardiac surgery.
Lab Tools

Sons of Next Gen
New innovations could bring tailored, fast, and cheap sequencing to the masses.

Microbiology Goes High-Tech
Out with toothpicks and pipettors; in with automation.
Speaking of Science

Speaking of Science
June 2012's selection of notable quotes
Scientist to Watch

Sohini Ramachandran: Population Tracker
Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University. Age: 30
Profiles

Hacking the Genome
In pondering genome structure and function, evolutionary geneticist Laurence Hurst has arrived at some unanticipated conclusions about how natural selection has molded our DNA.