The Do-It-Yourself Revolution

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

Do-it-yourself science is likely as old as science itself, driven by an inherent curiosity about the world around us.

March 2013's selection of notable quotes

A normally land-based microbiologist sets sail to find the building blocks of novel antibiotics in marine bacteria.

A chance encounter with a crab apple tree leads to the discovery of a new bacterial species and clues to the evolution of insect endosymbionts.

Uranium dating of coral tools used by the earliest settlers of the South Pacific island kingdom of Tonga offers unprecedented precision in reconstructing their history.

An Oregon teenager spent a summer in a New York biochemistry lab helping to discover a novel molecule that could become the next commercial nonaddictive painkiller.

Citizen scientists can inspire innovation and advance science education—and they are proving adept at self-policing.

How should the government ensure the safety and responsibility of do-it-yourself biologists?

Scotch tape and a scalpel provide a MacGyver-esque approach to microfabrication.

Nanoscale cracks in bone dissipate energy to protect against fracture, a process that appears to be regulated by the interaction of two proteins.

Contrary to previous assumptions that macrolide antibiotics completely block the exit tunnel of ribosomes, new evidence shows that some peptides are allowed to pass.

Inducing certain brain patterns extends non-REM sleep in mice.

Fearless cockroach hunter Coby Schal investigates how insects communicate via chemical cues, then subverts those signals for pest control.

Associate Professor, Medicinal Chemistry, University of Kansas. Age: 43

A tour of three systems for automating cell culture

A survey of The Scientist readers reveals who buys cell-growth products from whom,
and why.

Things break in the lab. Here’s how to protect your equipment, and what to do when it stops working.

Fueled by donations, sweat, and occasional dumpster diving, community laboratories for DIY biologists are cropping up around the country.

A reexamination of the facts surrounding the death of Cleopatra VII reveals that the Egyptian queen was murdered—and not by an asp.

The Undead, Frankenstein's Cat, The Universe Within, and Physics in Mind

A sharp-eyed fossil prospector and self-taught paleontologist, Mary Anning discovered several extraordinary Mesozoic marine reptiles.