December 2021

Return of the worms

Researchers are carefully considering the therapeutic potential of helminths

Subscribe

Features

3D illustration of a tapeworm infestation in a human intestine

The Literature

False color image of two Caenorhabditis elegans roundworms; blue on a black background

Mitochondrial Stress Is Passed Between Generations

Researchers identified a novel mechanism by which chemically induced stress is “remembered” by the mitochondria of worms more than 50 generations after the original trigger.

The man-of-war fish (Nomeus gronovii), a species of medusafish, near the tentacles of a siphonophore.

Medusafishes Are Grouped by Shared, Odd Traits: Study

Shared features, such as thick, slimy skin and a throat filled with teeth, suggest that medusafishes are all related.

An APP-knockout neuron (right) shows extended axonal and reduced dendritic growth compared with a normal mouse neuron (left). Scale bar 50 µm.

Amyloid Precursor Protein Linked to Brain Development Mechanisms

Researchers provide evidence that the Alzheimer’s-associated protein calibrates a signaling pathway that is conserved across the animal kingdom.

Infographics

Infographic: How C. elegans Transmit Stress Signals to Offspring

Neurons stressed with chemicals produce Wnt, which in turn triggers changes in the germline.

Infographic showing endogenous adenosine enzymes acting on RNA (ADARs) edit genetic material in the cell by attaching to naturally occurring double-stranded RNAs, including mRNAs, and switching out A bases with I bases (left). Therapeutic RNA editing platforms based on this mechanism fall into one of two categories: either they use engineered enzymes, which generally consist of the editing part of the ADAR enzyme attached to another protein such as Cas13 that boosts specificity, alongside a guide RNA that targets the enzyme to the desired location (middle); or they consist of a guide RNA alone, which recruits an endogenous ADAR to edit the target sequence (right).

Infographic: RNA Editing Approaches

RNA editing platforms leverage the natural activity of ADAR enzymes to make key changes to messenger RNAs before they are translated into proteins.

December 2021 - Gut Guests - Infographic

Infographic: How Worms that Reside in the Gut Could Influence Health

Research in animals and people supports a range of mechanisms by which the parasites affect physiology and immune responses.

Contributors

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

Foundations

In one of the only known photos of Abraham Lincoln taken on the day of the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln can be seen seated, hatless, just below and to the right of the flag. Lincoln began developing symptoms of smallpox on the train home to Washington, DC.

Presidential Pox, 1863

Researchers continue to debate whether US President Abraham Lincoln was coming down with smallpox as he delivered his famous Gettysburg Address, and if he had been immunized.

Scientist to Watch

Brooke Gardner Probes the Cell’s Peroxisomes

The University of California, Santa Barbara, cell biologist is investigating the formation and functions of the peroxisome, an organelle which exists in many copies in each cell and can be created, lost, or altered to meet the cell’s metabolic needs.

Bio Business

In Editing RNA, Researchers See Endless Possibilities

RNA editing has been in DNA editing’s shadow for nearly a decade, but recent investments in the technology could bring it into the limelight.

Reading Frames

Opinion: Bridging the Intellectual Divide

To solve modern problems, we must integrate the sciences and the humanities and think across these traditionally disparate disciplines.

Critic at Large

Opinion: Using Data to Hire High-Impact Faculty

Selecting researchers who will drive research agendas forward requires a more quantitative approach to interviewing.

Notebook

MUSCLE CONTROL: Researchers pinpoint how C. elegans (pictured) manages to expel food from its mouth.

The Science Behind How Roundworms Spit

By viewing countless hours of expectorating worms, researchers discover a unique way in which neurons control the movement of muscles.

PATH TO TREATMENT: Marley, pictured here with her father, was diagnosed with the rare genetic condition Bachmann-Bupp syndrome a few years ago.

Doctors Treat Girl’s Genetic Disorder with Repurposed Drug

In just 16 months, physicians went from identifying a novel rare disease in three-year-old Marley to successfully treating her with a drug previously used to treat African sleeping sickness and pediatric cancer.