Issue | August 2015 | Nature as Muse | The Scientist Magazine®

Cover Story

Inspired by Nature

Daniel Cossins | Aug 1, 2015 | 10+ min read

Researchers are borrowing designs from the natural world to advance biomedicine.

Features

Drugging the Environment

Megan Scudellari | Aug 1, 2015 | 10+ min read

Humans have spiked ecosystems with a flood of active pharmaceuticals. The drugs are feminizing male fish, confusing birds, and worrying scientists.

The Prescient Placenta

Christopher Coe | Aug 1, 2015 | 10 min read

The maternal-fetal interface plays important roles in the health of both mother and baby, even after birth.

Contributors

Meet some of the people featured in the August 2015 issue of The Scientist.

Editorial

Mimicry Muses

The animal world is full of clever solutions to bioengineering challenges.

Speaking of Science

August 2015's selection of notable quotes

Freeze Frame

Caught on Camera

Selected Images of the Day from the-scientist.com

Notebook

Building Bigger Beefsteaks

Understanding the genetics of stem cell population maintenance in plants producing jumbo tomatoes could help scientists generate more-massive fruits.

The Spleen Collectors

Donated organs are helping researchers map out the immune system in humans.

TB over Time

Eighteenth-century DNA sequences yield insights into the history of tuberculosis infections.

Silence of the Lambs

A die-off of newborn lambs in Australia leads to the discovery of a new toxin and clues to a devastating liver disease in children.

Critic at Large

Putting Phytoremediation into Action

Researchers studying the use of bacteria and plants to remove toxins from the soil must better communicate their results if they want their techniques to be used by practitioners in the field.

Modus Operandi

Gene Expression in a Drop

Tens of thousands of individual cells can have their transcriptomes analyzed simultaneously thanks to two new techniques.

The Literature

Rethinking Lymphatic Development

Four studies identify alternative origins for cells of the developing lymphatic system, challenging the long-standing view that they all come from veins.

Profile

Leaving an Imprint

Among the first to discover epigenetic reprogramming during mammalian development, Wolf Reik has been studying the dynamics of the epigenome for 30 years.

Scientist to Watch

Yun “Nancy” Huang: Eager for Epigenetics

Assistant Professor, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Houston. Age: 35

Lab Tools

Messages in the Noise

After spending more than a decade developing tools to study patterns in gene sequences, bioinformaticians are now working on programs to analyze epigenomics data.