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Multidisciplinary research in biology requires the patience to distinguish untutored crassness from deceptively simple insights, and awareness from all participants of just how complex is even the simplest life-form.
At a new genomics centre, ethologists are rubbing shoulders with computer scientists, chemists and mathematicians. Peter Aldhous visits a bold experiment in multidisciplinarity.
The editorial review of scientific papers usually takes place behind closed doors, but could the process be improved by opening it up for all to see? Trisha Gura investigates.
Some of the differences between the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars may stem from asymmetry in the planet's atmospheric circulation, and the resulting distribution of water and dust.
After rabbits learn to associate a tone with a small shock near the eye, they blink when they hear the tone. Learning requires activation of nerve fibres known as climbing fibres. Inhibition of these fibres leads to 'unlearning'.
Abnormal enlargement of the heart muscle can be life-threatening. Unexpected insight into the underlying molecular mechanisms has come from investigating a gene that regulates cardiac calcium levels.
The precise information that is conveyed between nerve cells remains unknown. Networks of nerve cells grown on silicon chips, using a polyester as a guide, may bring us closer to translating the elusive neural language.
Using the scanning near-field optical microscope, researchers have taken snapshots of light interference patterns in tiny photonic structures – experiments like these are taking optics into the quantum realm.
White cells in the bloodstream seek out and destroy invading bacteria. The explanation for the actual killing mechanism turns out to be wonderfully more subtle than previously thought.
Botulinum toxin, the nerve poison used for cosmetic purposes, could serve in the cause of psychiatry. Daedalus believes that when applied according to the principles of acupuncture, it will erase unsettling memories.
