Content by The Scientist

Contributors Pascale Cossart is fascinated by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Cossart started studying the deadly pathogen in 1986 at the Pasteur Institute. At the time, numerous labs were trying to identify genes responsible for virulence in various bacteria. Her work with Listeria led to new concepts in infection biology. "By chasing answers to the questions that struck my curiosity, I've let Listeria lead me into new fiel

Mail Promises, Promises Ok, this article about the dangers of scientific predictions1 is well written—but it is not saying anything hundreds have not said. Scientists make crazy promises. Hubris causes us to assert that we know what is right as though we have not been bitten by unintended consequences many, many times. But…there is plenty of blame to go around. Patients demand cures for complex diseases as though merely stomping your

Contributors It was while he was working in a German clinical obesity and diabetes lab that Christian Weyer realized willpower only went so far in helping patients lose weight. Motivated by his desire to understand the pathophysiology of the two diseases, Weyer left the clinical world and eventually signed on with San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals in 2001 as vice president of Medical Development. “We treat [obesity] the same way we did

Mail A Theory, Resisted I would be very skeptical of a claim that there won’t be any selection for resistance in the malaria control agents (such as a fungus that kills mosquitoes after they reproduce but before they become infectious) in “Evolution, Resisted.”1 If there is any reproductive difference between fungal-susceptible and slightly resistant mosquitoes, there will be selection, even if it is just a little bit. The heavier the challeng

#featureArticleHeadWrapper img { border:none; float:none; margin:5px 0; }#featureArticleContent p.comment { font-weight: bold; color: #333333; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px; }span.judge_1 { color: #E93593; } span.judge_2 { color: #20BCED; } span.judge_3 { color: #C1CD2F; } span.judge_4 { color: #F69723; } The Scientist Top 10 Innovations: 2009 The ten most exciting tools to hit the life sciences this year. It’s b

Contributors Stuart Blackman earned his PhD in evolutionary biology from the University of Edinburgh before realizing his scientific interests were too wide for a detailed-oriented career in research. He has been working as a science writer ever since. On page 28, Blackman examines the danger when scientists over-promise results. “I’ve long been interested in the interface between science and politics,” says Blackman. “Pro

Mail Superfood to the rescue? The development of genetically modified (GM) crops, even for the purpose of saving people from nutrient deficiencies,1 is driven by profit-hungry transnational corporations. Vitamin A deficiency could be much better addressed by promoting polyculture farming with vitamin A–rich green vegetables, especially in urban areas, simultaneously providing many other nutritional benefits. But this approach would not gen

Contributors Blanche Capel studied to be an interior designer before making the switch to biology. “There’s something about using your mind to understand the biology of who we are and how we work that makes me feel alive,” she says. In 1993, Capel started her own lab at Duke University studying sex–or, more specifically, the mechanisms that govern sex determination, a crucial developmental process. S

Mail Thanks for an excellent article, and for creating The Scientist Video Awards competition.1 Homemade videos of scientists at work may be the best way to show the general public how science works, and make it relevant to their daily lives. Hopefully this article and the video competition will encourage more scientists to make videos about their work, and other professionals to develop resources and tools to make it easy for th

Last chance to submit entries to our annual contest for innovative life science technologies -- contest closes today, September 15

Survey Methodology The Scientist 2009 Survey of Compensation of Life Scientists in the US Related Articles Finding New Money Stimulus Application? Not Me Retiring from Science Scoring on Sabbaticals Charts and Tables Comparison Charts and Data State-by-State Salaries Downloadable PDF's The survey was conducted via a web-based survey which was open from March 5 to May 31, 2009. Participation in the survey was promoted by e-mail and advertising

Contributors By the time Guillermina Girardi earned her PhD from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario in Argentina in 1994, she never got the opportunity to study abroad. So when the chance came up to do a two-year training program at the Hospital for Special Surgery, an affiliate of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, in December of 2000, she jumped on it. She ultimately worked as an assistant professor of pharmac

Mail After Fraud: Life vs. Life Sentence While certainly not defending those who willingly engage in scientific fraud, those who are punished, such as the anonymous scientists who accepted findings of misconduct presented in “Life After Fraud”1, deserve a chance to start over. If only internet memory would fade like human memory, we could forgive, forget, and move on. Phil Davis Cornell UniversityIthaca, NYpmd8@cornell.edu

Contributors Sarkis Mazmanian started college at the University of California Los Angeles as an English major, with dreams of becoming a poet. He soon "realized that it wasn't something that I could make a living at," he says, and decided to turn to biology instead. "Trying to understand evolution and nature was really appealing to me," he recalls. He started studying pathogenic bacteria, the dominant area of interest in microbiology at the

Mail Taxonomy, RIP? Re: “A fading field,” 1 about the disappearance of traditional taxonomy, about fifteen years ago, I was accepted into a master’s program in botany and plant systematics at a nearby university. The first day of class in September, I was told that the masters program in botany/plant taxonomy was canceled. I was most unhappy. I complained to a friend, a physics professor at the same university, who explai