Content by The Scientist

Contributors A seasoned hiker and skier who has visited most of the US National Parks, Keith Flaherty is no stranger to unfamiliar terrain. He entered college around the time of the molecular biology revolution in the early 1980s, and the new science entranced him. “It stuck with me as being an intriguing and fascinating level at which to try to understand human biology,” he says. In medical school he started to “think about patients and diseases

Mail Worms As Therapy Re: Bob Grant’s article about worm therapy for autoimmune disease:1 A minireview by Hanada et al., (Biol. Chem, 391:1365-70, 2010) of the RANKL/RANK system involving T-cell membrane protein ligands and ligand targets in various tissues, including specific neural and astroglial terrains in the brain, may provide additional support to the findings that inflammatory responses could play a role in autism. Mel Winestock

Speaking of Science Baris Simsek / Istockphoto.com The achievement is impressive, but it is a wholly formal achievement that involves no knowledge…and it does not come within a million miles of replicating the achievements of everyday human thought. —Law professor Stanley Fish, on Watson, the I.B.M.–built computer that won a game of “Jeopardy” (The New York Times Opinionator blog, Feb. 21, 2011)By 2029, we’ll have reve

Top 7 From F1000 David Mack / Photo Researchers, Inc. 1. SWEET proteins found » A new class of proteins, dubbed SWEETs, transport glucose molecules out of plant, worm, and human cells. In some plants, SWEET proteins are co-opted by bacterial pathogens to deliver nutrition to the invaders.L.Q. Chen et al., Nature, 468:527-32, 2010. Evaluations by G. Oldroyd, John Innes Cen; J. Schroeder, UCSD; A. Sugio & S. Hogenhout, John Innes Cen; J. Patrick, Uni

April 2011's selection of notable quotes

A snapshot of the highest-ranked articles from a 30-day period on Faculty of 1000

What impact will Japan's nuclear woes have on the country's ecology and agriculture?

Are the workers at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant at risk of genetic mutations that could cause cancer or hereditary effects?

What risks does Japan face as a result of radiation leakage from the nuclear power plant hit by the recent earthquake and tsunami?

Survey Methodology Survey Form: A Web-based survey form was posted at www.the-scientist.com from September 8 to November 29, 2010. Results were collected and collated automatically.Invitations: E-mail invitations were sent to readers of The Scientist and registrants on The Scientist Web site who identified themselves as nontenured life scientists working in academia, industry or noncommercial research institutions. The survey was also publicized on The Scientist

Contributors Mysteries have always appealed to Manel Esteller, a self-proclaimed “aficionado” of Sherlock Holmes. “I like the possibility to deduce a whole starting from a minimal clue.” Trying to solve the mystery surrounding the molecular genetics of endometrial carcinoma during his PhD program at Universidad de Barcelona led him to devote himself to epigenetics, after he found that pure genetics was unable to explain his results. He move

Mail Climate Change and Health While all of the problems associated with global warming can initially be countered to some extent in some, most, or all places given enough capital outlay for technology, etc., the basic problem this article1 points out is that, at some point in time, if global temperatures continue to rise, there will eventually not be enough resources everywhere to handle things. For example, the increasing incidence of malar

Speaking of Science Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Oxford How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! how short his time! and consequently how poor will be his results, compared with those accumulated by Nature during whole geological periods! —Charles Darwin, On The Origin of Species (1859)Why them? Why is this species [the New Caledonian crow] on a small island in the Pacific able to not just use but to manufacture a variety of tool

Top 7 From F1000 3d4medical / photo researchers inc. 1. Drug helps, doesn’t hurt, lung disease » Respiratory distress syndrome patients treated with a neuromuscular blocker are more likely than those on a placebo to survive 90 days, and show no increase in muscle weakness—a common concern among doctors. L. Papazian et al., N Engl J Med, 363:1107-16, 2010. Evaluated by A. Benson & I. Douglas, Univ Colorado and Denver Health; M. Grop

Meet some of the people featured in the February 2011 issue of The Scientist.