Issue | February 2015 | Persistent Viral Infections

Cover Story

Viral Virtuosos

Christopher S. Sullivan | Feb 1, 2015 | 10 min read

New understanding of noncoding RNAs may solve a long-standing puzzle about how viruses orchestrate lifelong infections.

Features

The Energy of Life

Jeffrey Marlow and Jan Amend | Feb 1, 2015 | 10+ min read

Extremophiles should not be viewed through an anthropocentric lens; what’s extreme for us may be a perfectly comfortable environment for a microbe.

cards for a memory game, with pictures of pathogens turned over

Thanks for the Memories

Ruth Williams | Feb 1, 2015 | 10+ min read

B and T cells may be the memory masters of the immune system, but research reveals that other cells can be primed by pathogens, too.

Contributors

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

Editorial

Stubbornly Persistent

Microorganisms continually challenge our assumptions of what life can achieve.

Speaking of Science

February 2015's selection of notable quotes

Notebook

Mollusk Mockup

Researchers develop a “micro-scallop” meant to glide through biological fluids by opening and closing a pair of silicone shells.

Missing Mouse Mojo

Cracking the case of laboratory mice that suddenly stopped reproducing involved a little chemical sleuthing

Centennial Shigella

A strain of the dysentery-causing bacterium isolated in 1915 tells the story of a young soldier who died of the disease in the early days of World War I.

Seeing Red

Scientists attempt to work out how humans are able to see in the infrared.

Critic at Large

Overspending on Overhead

Federal research dollars are needlessly wasted as scientists spend more and more of their time trying to recoup operational costs.

Facing Down Emerging Viruses

A better knowledge of the pathogenesis of emerging zoonotic diseases is crucial if we want to prepare for “the next Ebola.”

Modus Operandi

Time-Lapse on the Cheap

A PhD student jury-rigs a microscopy system for high-throughput cell motility assays.

The Literature

B Cell Bosses

Gut bacteria in mice spur regulatory B cells to differentiate and release an anti-inflammatory cytokine.

Nibbled? No Problem

Making extra copies of their genomes allows some plants to better withstand damage.

Bouncing Back

In mice, a transcriptional regulator, β-catenin, activates a microRNA-processing pathway in the nucleus accumbens to promote resilience to social stress.

Profiles

Engineer of Change

A chemical engineer walks into a biology lab . . . and revolutionizes bioengineering. How Robert Langer blazed a trail in drug delivery and regenerative medicine.