Neural Landscapes

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

Innovations in imaging techniques and genetic sequencing take neuroscience to a new level.

November 2013's selection of notable quotes

Georgia Tech researchers develop technology that could allow assistance dogs to better communicate with their handlers.

A rare bleeding disorder leads scientists to uncover an unusual blood component that might be common to us all.

Evidence of early-13th-century intestinal worms found in a medieval castle latrine yields clues about the lives and deaths of crusaders.

Differential gene expression between dominant and subordinate male turkeys could help evolutionary biologists deconstruct the roots of sexual dimorphism.

Biologists have struggled for centuries to properly define what constitutes a “species.” They may have been asking the wrong question—many smaller organisms might not form species at all.

Theoretical anthropogeny seeks to understand how Homo sapiens rose to a position of global dominance.

High-throughput sequencing without PCR could make estimates of biodiversity more precise.

Deep-brain stimulation is allowing neurosurgeons to adjust the neural activity in specific brain regions to treat thousands of patients with myriad neurological disorders.

In mycelial bacteria, a protein that self-assembles into cytoskeletal networks is recruited to growing tips to shore up newly synthesized cell walls.

Hunger-associated molecules in the hypothalamus suppress inflammation.
 

Cell-adhesion molecules help newborn neurons migrate to their intended destinations within the neocortex.

By audaciously pursuing an abandoned area of research, Ana María Cuervo discovered how cells selectively break down their waste, and revealed the health consequences when that process malfunctions.

Assistant Professor, Physics, Princeton University. Age: 39

Light microscopy techniques that spotlight neural connections in the brain

Combining two imaging techniques integrates molecular specificity with nanometer-scale resolution.
 

Researchers use molecular keys, chisels, and crowbars to open the last great biochemical barricade in the body—the blood-brain barrier.

War and justice brought together two of the greatest minds of the 20th century, a scientist and a writer.

Tracks and Shadows, The Gap, The Cure in the Code, and An Appetite for Wonder

Santiago Ramón y Cajal used a staining technique developed by Camillo Golgi to formulate the idea that the neuron is the basic unit of the nervous system.