Issue | December 2020 | Dream Engineers | The Scientist Magazine®

Features

Scientists Engineer Dreams to Understand the Sleeping Brain

Catherine Offord | Dec 1, 2020 | 10+ min read

Technologies such as noninvasive brain stimulation and virtual reality gaming offer insights into how dreams arise and what functions they might serve.

Nutrition Researchers Can Determine What You’ve Been Eating

Amber Dance | Dec 1, 2020 | 10+ min read

The study of diet, long plagued by inaccuracies in self reports, is entering a new age of precision with the methods of metabolomics.

2020 Top 10 Innovations

The Scientist Staff | Dec 1, 2020 | 10+ min read

From a rapid molecular test for COVID-19 to tools that can characterize the antibodies produced in the plasma of patients recovering from the disease, this year’s winners reflect the research community’s shared focus in a challenging year.

Contributors

Meet some of the people featured in the December 2020 issue of The Scientist.

Editorial

Science Is My Copilot

As the world around us seems increasingly volatile, protecting and respecting the integrity of research and evidence becomes more important than ever.

Speaking of Science

Ten Minute Sabbatical

Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse.

Critic at Large

Citations Are the Currency of Science

Then there are the counterfeiters.

Notebook

Farming Associated with Long-Term Decline in Marmot Populations

Images from a Cold War spy satellite help researchers piece together the effects of land-use decisions in Kazakhstan.

Initiative Addresses Racial Disparities in Neuroscience

The African Ancestry Neuroscience Research Initiative plans to boost inclusion in genomic studies and support a more diverse generation of neuroscientists.

The Literature

Immune Genes Protect Cells from Ebola Virus and SARS-CoV-2

A pathway involved in the adaptive immune system, a relative newcomer in the world of pathogen defense, may have a more ancient role in protecting cells from invading viruses.

Unearthed: World’s Oldest Animal Sperm—And It’s Giant

The sperm, belonging to a tiny marine crustacean, dates back nearly 100 million years, making it the most ancient animal sperm found to date.

Stress-Induced Chromosome Changes Protect Flies’ Aging Brains

Brain cells in older Drosophila tend to have more than two complete sets of chromosomes, and that polyploidy most likely has a protective function, a study shows.

Scientist to Watch

Gloria Echeverria Investigates an Insidious Form of Breast Cancer

The newly minted Baylor College of Medicine faculty member is working to crack the mystery of triple negative breast cancer.

Bio Business

Pharma Looks to Outer Space to Boost Drug R&D

There are benefits of studying certain biological processes under microgravity, but whether those advantages outweigh the costs of getting experiments off Earth remains to be seen.

Reading Frames

Opinion: The Biological Function of Dreams

The scenarios that run through our sleeping brains may help us explore possible solutions to concerns from our waking lives.

Foundations

Action at a Distance, Circa Early 1950s

Neuroscientist Rita Levi-Montalcini began her Nobel Prize–winning work in a makeshift laboratory in Italy during the Second World War.

Infographics

Infographic: The Technology Scientists Use to Engineer Dreams

Researchers are experimenting with a variety of tools, from brain stimulation to audiovisual equipment, to try to take control of the sleeping brain.

Infographic: Deciphering Diet from Blood and Urine Samples

Nutrition researchers are beginning to use metabolomics to determine how healthy subjects’ diets are, and even to reveal specific properties of the foods they eat.