Let The Games Begin

Searching for life beyond our teeming planet has led to some innovative collaborative approaches to generating knowledge right here at home.

Scientists studying the Arctic Ocean aboard a US Coast Guard icebreaker discover one of the largest phytoplankton blooms ever recorded—beneath sea ice.

Researchers learn to predict visual imagery in dreams based on functional MRI scans of brain activity during sleep.

Old koala pelts from museum collections are helping researchers to learn more about the retroviral invasion that may be endangering the Australian marsupial.

Scientists set up a stakeout to track the movements of microbes around a new hospital.

Twenty-first century lab reports will include test results read by a new breed of pathologist.

Screen-based technologies show promise for autism intervention—but research is still needed to evaluate both the benefits and the possible negative effects.

Scientists are using video games to tap the collective intelligence of people around the world, while doctors and educators are turning to games to treat and teach.

Tracking the shadows cast by sperm reveals their precise 3-D movements.

Patterns of cell death aid in the formation of beneficial wrinkles during the development of bacterial biofilms.

A microfluidic device scans individual C. elegans for abnormal traits and sorts wild-type animals from mutants.

Unlike epithelial cells, neurons respond to herpes infection through autophagy, rather than by releasing inflammatory factors.

Gregory Hannon believes in taking risks—an approach that’s enabled him to make exciting new discoveries in the world of small RNAs.

Founder, Chairman, and CEO, NeuroVigil, Age: 33

Using laboratory information management systems (LIMS) to automate and streamline laboratory tasks: three case studies

Clever microfluidic platforms take the study of protein-protein interactions to a new level.

Affordable diagnostic tests tackle the world’s most pressing health problems.

The rise of copulation as a vertebrate reproductive strategy may have driven crucial evolutionary change and explosive species radiation.

Life's Ratchet, The Annotated and Illustrated Double Helix, The Fractalist and Hallucinations

A master of topographical anatomy, Christian Wilhelm Braune produced accurate colored lithographs from cross sections of the human body.

Meet some of the people featured in the January 2013 issue of The Scientist.

January 2013's selection of notable quotes