Issue | Spring 2023 | The Cancer Code | The Scientist Magazine®

Features

Artists' renditions of cancer cells and tRNA molecules superimposed over one another.

Long noncoding RNAs and Microproteins Can Spark Cancer—or Sometimes Squelch It

Rachael Moeller Gorman | Mar 1, 2023 | 10+ min read

Noncoding RNAs and microproteins, once considered genomic noise, are turning out to be critical to the progression of some types of cancer.

Composite image showing genes radiating from tumor cells

Jumping Genes’ Role in Cancer

Diana Kwon | Mar 1, 2023 | 8 min read

Transposons may be key players in how tumors develop and spread, but they also keep cancer at bay in some circumstances.

Speaking of Science

Ten Minute Sabbatical

Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse

Critic at Large

Illustration of woman looking at floating cells through a telescope

Opinion: New Diabetes Drug Signals Shift to Preventing Autoimmunity

A therapy for type 1 diabetes is the first to treat patients before symptoms appear, paving the way toward preventing this and other autoimmune diseases.

The Literature

How Tadpoles Garner the Energy to Regenerate Their Tails

A metabolic pathway used for tail regrowth may be critical for tissue regeneration in some cells, a study suggests.

Notebook

Researchers Watch Fish Rot, for Science

Recording the pH within decaying organs for the first time, researchers come closer to understanding why some soft tissues are more likely to be preserved as fossils than others.

Ecologists Use Museum Specimens to Dig into the Parasitic Past

New techniques to quantify what lived in and on preserved animals throw light on how parasite abundance has changed over time.

Scientist to Watch

Alex Muir Explores Cancer Cells’ Menu

The University of Chicago cell biologist is studying how the nutrients available to cancers influence their growth.

Careers

A male and female Chiriqui harlequin frog (<em>Atelopus chiriquiensis</em>) photographed in 2010. The species was declared extinct in 2019.

How Do Scientists Decide a Species Has Gone Extinct?

Getting it wrong can harm the very creatures that scientists are trying to protect.

Reading Frames

The Skin Battery

The “wound current” has intrigued scientists for more than a century. It could turn out to be the key to healing catastrophic injuries.

Foundations

In urban bathhouses in Germany and the surrounding low countries, bathhouse proprietors, known as baders, provided visitors with basic medical care. To draw blood, baders would scratch the skin before placing a heated cupping glass over the incision to extract blood and purge the body. Other tools associated with baders, including dental forceps and an amputation saw, hint at further services they provided.

Bathing Through the Ages: 1300–1848

Public bathing, ubiquitous around the world and through the ages, plays an often-unappreciated role in public health.

Infographics

Infographic: Transposable elements in cancer

Jumping genes are let loose in cancerous cells, with multiple effects on cell health.

Infographic showing the process of tail regeneration in tadpoles

Infographic: How Tadpoles Use Glucose to Fuel Tail Regrowth

Unlike other fast-growing cells, regenerating tadpole cells fuel growth using the pentose phosphate pathway rather than glycolysis, a study indicates.

Spring 2023

The Cancer Code

Once dismissed as genomic noise, some noncoding sequences (and the microproteins they encode) play important roles in cancer