Restoring Reefs

Meet some of the people featured in the February 2021 issue of The Scientist.

This year has started out in a fashion that is sadly similar to the way 2020 unspooled. But the steady pace of scientific discovery helps maintain our sense of hope.

Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse.

Academic mentors are not necessarily natural managers. Their graduate students often bear the brunt of this shortcoming.

A study of bumble bees exposed to levels of radiation equivalent to those existing in Chernobyl hotspots shows that the insects’ reproduction takes a hit.

A volunteer nature guide teamed up with researchers to discover a unique reproductive role for one vine’s leaves.

The thicker the flower petals’ cuticle, the more fragrance compounds the plant releases, according to a recent study.

The mysterious DNA sequences appear to help bacterial cells spot when they’ve been infected with viruses—and prompt those cells to self-destruct.

An experimental study explores how plant communities may be affected by future declines in invertebrate populations.

The University of California, Davis, professor is a pioneer in teasing apart the changes in gene expression that drive root development.

The recent move of the European Medicines Agency from London to Amsterdam is a reflection of the city’s vibrant life sciences and health sector and supporting industries.

Scientifically groundless regulations could undercut the potential of gene-edited crops, much as they have with GMOs.

The “mother of plant virology and serology,” Helen Purdy Beale, developed techniques to understand the nature of viruses that went unappreciated for decades.

Phages interact with bacteria and eukaryotic cells in ways that researchers suspect influence mammalian health.

Researchers found that thinning petunia cells’ cuticles caused them to slow production of volatile organic compounds.

Our novel technique involves planting several small fragments of slow-growing corals onto dead coral heads. The fragments eventually fuse, forming a large colony in a fraction of the time that it takes wild corals to build reefs.