04/19/2018
meta-research article
Text mining of more than 10 million academic papers by Luke Holman, Devi Stuart-Fox and Cindy Hauser identifies those fields of science that will retain a highly imbalanced gender ratio for many years to come.
Image credit: Pixabay
Current Issue March 2018
04/19/2018
perspective
In the early 1980s two young scientists working in the newly born field of electron cryo-microscopy made an apparently significant discovery that others failed to replicate. More than thirty years later, Nobel laureate Jacques Dubochet and his co-worker Erwin Knapek reunite to discuss what went wrong.
Image credit: pbio.2005550
04/18/2018
research article
Saipraveen Srinivasan, Christoph Burckhardt, Sandra Schmid and co-workers use live cell imaging reveals a non-canonical and isoform-specific role for dynamin-1, the fission GTPase, in regulating the assembly and maturation of clathrin-coated pits, and functioning as a nexus between signaling and endocytosis.
Image credit: pbio.2005377
04/16/2018
meta-research article
A large-scale study of two strains of lab mouse by Viola André, Martin Hrabé de Angelis and co-authors shows that the inclusion of nesting material and shelters as environmental enrichment does not impair the scientific assessment of a battery of 164 physiological parameters in mice.
Image credit: pbio.2005019
04/13/2018
research article
Su-Rong Yang, Zhen-Zhen Hu, Yan-Jia Luo, Ya-Nan Zhao, Huan-Xin Sun, Zhi-Li Huang and colleagues show that the tail of the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain, which is primarily composed of GABAergic neurons, regulates non-rapid eye movement sleep by modulating dopaminergic systems.
Image credit: Pixabay
04/13/2018
research article
A study by Stephen Abolins, Mark Viney and colleagues of the immune ecology of wild house mice – the same species as the lab mouse – shows that their immune state is promoted by individuals’ body condition and constrained by their age.
Image credit: Flickr user: Paul Dunleavy
04/18/2018
research articlr
The parasitic helminth Schistosoma mansoni primes Th2 responses via an interaction between helminth egg antigens and the host receptors Dectin-1 and -2.
Image credit: David Williams
04/17/2018
perspective
Biodiversity indicators focus on native species; this Perspective article proposes that non-native species should also be included to better reflect both what is observed in the field and the interests of non-biologists.
Image credit: pbio.2005568
04/18/2018
short report
This study shows that the effect of mitochondrial dysfunction on nuclear DNA methylation is mediated by changes in methionine and polyamine metabolism.
Image credit: pbio.2005707
04/16/2018
research article
Mice lacking the organic cation transporter OCT1 provide molecular insights into how levels of thiamine (vitamin B1) and OCT1 influence metabolic traits observed in humans and mice.
Image credit: pbio.2002907
Meta-research may not be as click-worthy as a meta-pug – a pug dog dressed up in a pug costume – but it is crucial to understanding research, says Lisa Bero in this Research Matters article.
John Ioannidis explores the study of research itself: its methods, reporting, reproducibility, evaluation, and incentives.
Peter Hotez argues that a global commitment to basic science approaches could revolutionize our approach to the control of neglected diseases.
The modern scientific era offers the perfect opportunity to merge traditional (morphological) taxonomy with cutting-edge “Omics” approaches, says Holly Bik.
In this Research Matters article, Andrew Read recalls how an analysis of incest in wasps revealed a way to improve human well-being.
How resistance arises at the cellular level, how it evolves and spreads, and how we can combat it.
How animals combine information from the outside world and from within their own bodies to decide what they should eat.
How the engulfment of a small bacterium by a larger archaeon more than a billion years ago resulted not in death, but in one of the most successful partnerships on earth.
The composition and function of microbiomes are critical for most animals and plants; how do relationships between hosts and microbes evolve over time?
Medics have long recognised the curious power of the placebo. What is known of its biological basis and the complex ethical and practical issues that surround it?
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