The_20Scientist_20March_202019 (1)

03.2019 | THE SCIENTIST 5

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Department Contents

MARCH 2019

10 FROM THE EDITOR

Drugs, Developed

In an era of instant communication,

we must be careful how word of new

and untested treatments is shared.

BY BOB GRANT

16 NOTEBOOK

A Lost Microbial World; Avian

Drifters; Passing Marks; High Time

22 CRITIC AT LARGE

More Than the Sum of Its Parts

The study of evolution requires

consideration of organisms’

microbiomes.

BY ITZHAK MIZRAHI AND

FOTINI KOKOU

23 MODUS OPERANDI

Stick-On Immune Cell Monitor

A microneedle-containing skin patch

offers researchers a noninvasive way

to survey immune responses in mice.

BY RUTH WILLIAMS

48 THE LITERATURE

A yeast enzyme helps cells survive

DNA double-strand breaks; mating

archaea can share spacers; a new

purine substitute for primordial RNA

50 PROFILE

Master Decoder

Kári Stefánsson explores what the

human genome can tell us about

disease and our species’ evolution.

BY ANNA AZVOLINSKY

53 SCIENTIST TO WATC H

Emily Derbyshire: Malaria Hunter

BY SHAWNA WILLIAMS

54 LAB TOOLS

Knock It Into the Park

Techniques for upping the efficiency

of knocking in genes

BY ANNA NOWOGRODZKI

57 CAREERS

The Aging Workforce

Researchers, institutions, and funding

agencies are struggling to come up

with ways to make academic science

sustainable as more people opt to stay

in their positions longer.

BY KATARINA ZIMMER

61 READING FRAMES

In Praise of Crazy Ideas

Many of the truly transformative

innovations in science were initially

met with scorn.

BY SAFI BAHCALL

64 FOUNDATIONS

How Chromosomes X & Y Got Their

Names, 1891

BY JOSEPH KEIERLEBER

IN EVERY ISSUE

9 CONTRIBUTORS

12 SPEAKING OF SCIENCE

62 THE GUIDE

63 RECRUITMENT

14

48

53

PUZZLE ON PAGE 12

ANSWER

C P C P F U

CHARCOA L OINK

I E F E W I

BANG FOXGLOVE

N E U E

ETHANE SQUARE

E N R S

ARCTI C FLUKES

T H A S

H I PJO INT HOWL

A U M H I O

WREN PROTOZOA

Y G S M L D

CORRECTIONS:

The February 2019 article “Follow Your Nose” inaccurately stated that Louisa

Dahmani previously conducted research on both memory and olfaction. In

fact, she reviewed the literature. The Scientist regrets the error.