Issue | September 2024 | XX Marks the Spot: Addressing Sex Bias in Neuroscience

Features

A microscopy image of various gold-colored diatoms.

Better Living Through Algae Biotechnology

Hannah Thomasy, PhD | Sep 13, 2024 | 10+ min read

Scientists explore how unicellular aquatic organisms could help humanity exist more sustainably.

A colorful image of a brain surrounded by outlines of a woman, rodent, and a marmoset. Lines orbit around the brain and are surrounded by stars.

XX Marks the Spot: Addressing Sex Bias in Neuroscience

Laura Tran, PhD | Sep 13, 2024 | 10+ min read

For years, neuroscience research overlooked female subjects, creating a significant bias. Today, researchers actively rebalance the scales with more inclusive and diverse studies.

Collection of green and blue proteins with different conformations on a black background.

The Dynamic Lives of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Danielle Gerhard, PhD | Sep 13, 2024 | 10+ min read

Shapeshifting proteins challenge a long-standing maxim in biology.

Image of an embryo built from Lego bricks showing cell populations in green and red.

Stem Cell-Based Embryo Models Add a Dimension to Developmental Biology

Shelby Bradford, PhD | Sep 13, 2024 | 10+ min read

Studying human embryonic development is complicated for several reasons. Models derived from pluripotent stem cells representing distinct stages offer a path to studying this process.

Contributors

Meet the Team: Laura Tran, PhD

Driven by her desire to concoct creative stories, Laura Tran merged her scientific knowledge with the art of storytelling.

Infographics

(Left to right) The first panel is an image of an uneven scale, with the blue male symbol weighing heavier than the red female symbol. The second panel features a mouse with a callout depicting various red and blue lines to represent the estrous cycle. In the third panel, there are images of a mouse, marmoset, and cell culture dish. In the final panel, there is an image of therapeutic pills and gears, representing cognitive function, above a balanced scale. Now the male and female symbols are even.

Infographic: Bridging the Sex Bias Gap

Researchers challenge a male-dominated field and advocate for more representation of female subjects.

Infographic depicting the variety of conformations that proteins can assume and how this facilitates multifunctionality.

Infographic: Shapeshifters in the Proteome

Textbooks often depict proteins as nicely folded three-dimensional structures, but many proteins are far from it.

Embryoid bodies, at the top of the page, are a cluster of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) that differentiate portions into ectoderm (orange), mesoderm (dark blue), and endoderm (pink).

Infographic: The Many Paths to Stem Cell-Based Embryo Models

Culturing pluripotent stem cells to replicate different stages of embryonic development allows researchers to more easily investigate this period.

Algae: The Next Green Revolution

Researchers explore algal biology for new strategies to help humans live more sustainably.

Foundations

Two neurons send electrical signals to each other.

Eavesdropping on Ion Channels Using the Patch Clamp Technique

Cells send electrical impulses throughout the body, but electrophysiologists struggled to tune into these signals until the patch clamp technique was developed.