Viruses as Drugs

Meet some of the people featured in the January 2016 issue of The Scientist.

Understanding the biological roots of cooperation might help resolve some of the biggest scientific challenges we face.

January 2016's selection of notable quotes

Overwintering ground squirrels survive fluctuations in body temperature that would cause cardiac arrest in nonhibernators.

Odors experienced via the mouth are essential to our sense of taste.

Is there room to improve upon the tried-and-true, decades-old technology of artificial hearts?

Exceptional neural fossil preservation helps answer questions about ancient arthropod evolution.

We should not resist developing opiate-producing GM yeast for fear of the technology falling into the wrong hands.

Cell type–specific proteomic analyses are now possible from paraffin-embedded tissues.

Phage therapy to combat bacterial infections is garnering attention for the second time in 100 years, but solid clinical support for its widespread use is still lacking.

A long noncoding RNA associated with DNA methylation has the power to regulate colon cancer growth in vitro.

In the mouse lung, hardening of a blood vessel can result from just a single progenitor cell forming new smooth muscle.

Two mutations in a gene involved in telomere extension reverse the gene’s epigenetic silencing.

Susan Lindquist has never shied away from letting her curiosity guide her research career.

Assistant Professor, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior University of California, Irvine. Age: 39

A tour of efforts to automate the production and differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells

A growing toolbox for surveying the activity of entire genomes

FDA designations promise to expedite the approval of drugs for conditions ranging from infectious disease to cancer.

The most bizarre behaviors often make perfect sense in the minds of the mentally ill.

Countries have used postage stamps to commemorate scientific achievements—sometimes with erroneous zeal—since the early 1900s.