May 2012

It’s a well-known story: The peppered moth’s ancestral typica phenotype is white with dark speckles. 

Telomeres are repetitive, noncoding sequences that cap the ends of linear chromosomes. They consist of hexameric nucleotide sequences (TTAGGG in humans) repeated hundreds to thousands of times. 

A transition-state mimic has the power to bind an enzyme at its tipping point as strongly as any available inhibitor and more strongly than most, preventing enzymatic activity. 

Genes that react to cellular sugar content are regulated by a long non-coding RNA via an unexpected mechanism

A cytokine involved in suppressing the immune system may actually activate it to kill cancer cells.

Researchers find organisms with huge genomes with high mutation rates, overturning a common expectation in evolutionary biology.

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

Is brown fat ready for therapeutic prime time?

More collaborators and more data are the key ingredients.

Scientists and their many hats

Inspired by Darwin, Mohamed Noor has uncovered the molecular dance by which a single species becomes two.

Being an ex-drug-addict turned neuroscientist brings a unique insight into the physiological and phenomenological realities of addiction.

Masters of the Planet, Learning from the Octopus, Darwin’s Devices, and Psychology’s Ghosts

Techniques for simpler, cheaper, and better antibody purification

Using surface plasmon resonance to improve antibody detection and characterization: four case studies

An evolutionary biologist’s posthumous publication restores the peppered moth to its iconic status as a textbook example of evolution.

A completely colorblind musician and painter perceives the world in a new way with help from technology.

House mice sing melodies out of the range of human hearing, and the crooning is impacting research from evolutionary biology to neuroscience.

A new brown tree snake control strategy takes to the skies as scientists scatter toxic rodents over Guam’s forest canopy.

Turning a liability into an asset, cryo-electron microscopists exploit an artifact to probe protein structure.

From accounts of deformed animals to scratch-and-sniff technology, Robert Boyle's early contributions to the Royal Society of London were prolific and wide ranging.

Associate Professor, Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco. Age: 45

May 2012's selection of notable quotes