ADVERTISEMENT
Image showing recombinant DNA
A Sticky Situation: Recombinant DNA Technology
Janet Mertz’s work with simian virus 40 DNA during her graduate years was pivotal for developing DNA recombination as we now know it.
A Sticky Situation: Recombinant DNA Technology
A Sticky Situation: Recombinant DNA Technology

Janet Mertz’s work with simian virus 40 DNA during her graduate years was pivotal for developing DNA recombination as we now know it.

Janet Mertz’s work with simian virus 40 DNA during her graduate years was pivotal for developing DNA recombination as we now know it.

history of science

X-ray crystallography of penicillin
Crystal-Clear Penicillin, 1945
Brittany McWilliams | Apr 3, 2023 | 4 min read
Political activist and Nobel winner Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin pioneered X-ray crystallography to discover the molecular structures of penicillin and insulin.
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
Clare Watson | Mar 1, 2023 | 2 min read
Public bathing, ubiquitous around the world and through the ages, plays an often-unappreciated role in public health.
Glass blown and sculpted model of the golden bellapple (<em>Passiflora laurifolia</em>)
Glass Menagerie, 1863–1936
Dan Robitzski | Feb 1, 2023 | 3 min read
The father-and-son duo Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka crafted thousands of scientifically accurate models of plants and sea creatures as teaching aids. 
Glass-blown and sculpted model of the sea anemone (<em>Phymactis florida</em>)
Slideshow: The Lifelike Glass Models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka
Dan Robitzski | Feb 1, 2023 | 3 min read
The father-and-son duo, the last generations of a long line of renowned glassworkers, crafted thousands of realistic models of plants and sea creatures.
3d render Blood cells (depth of field)
William Harvey Revolutionized Our Understanding of Circulation
Dhun Sethna | Sep 12, 2022 | 4 min read
A puzzle for millennia, the movement of blood through the body was solved by an English physician in the 17th century, paving the way for modern medical technologies.
Lower part of a skeleton with the left foot missing
31,000-Year-Old Skeleton Reveals Oldest Known Surgery
Christie Wilcox, PhD | Sep 7, 2022 | 2 min read
A Stone Age individual’s left leg healed after being amputated just above the foot, allowing them to survive for six to nine years after the procedure was performed, researchers say.
Artist’s rendition of light blue monkeypox viruses in front of a black background.
FDA To Stretch Monkeypox Vaccine Supply via Intradermal Injection
Shafaq Zia | Aug 12, 2022 | 4 min read
The newly authorized intradermal vaccination only requires one-fifth of the usual vaccine dose. This will help stretch out the limited vaccine supply, experts say, but only if healthcare personnel receive sufficient training.
Formed of various flowers, this personification cartoon of a female botanist, painted by George Spratt, was pasted into Allen’s copy of The English Flora.
La Botaniste, 1810–1865
Sukanya Charuchandra | Jan 4, 2022 | 2 min read
Elaborate annotations hidden in a copy of Sir James Edward Smith’s The English Flora hinted at the life of a mysterious woman botanist.
Collage of images including sperm, bacteria, coral, and an illustration of a researcher
Our Favorite Cell and Molecular Biology Stories of 2021
Jef Akst | Dec 2, 2021 | 3 min read
Beyond The Scientist’s coverage of COVID-19’s molecular underpinnings were many other stories highlighting the advances made in scientists’ understanding of the biology of cells.
Photograph of a waterfall
Falling Water, Rising Rocks, 1834
Catherine Offord | Oct 1, 2021 | 2 min read
Intrigued by an optical illusion he experienced while traveling in Scotland, Robert Addams wrote what is now considered one of the definitive observational accounts of so-called motion aftereffects.
Human blood in a plastic Intravenous drip bag, the tube running out of the image. Square crop. Horizontal with copy space.
Opinion: What the History of Blood Transfusion Reveals About Risk
Paul A. Offit | Sep 1, 2021 | 5 min read
Every medical intervention—even one with a centuries-long history—brings dangers, some of which become clear only later.
A black and white photo of two sets of flowers in test tubes, one of which is wilting
Posies, Poison, and Periods, Early 1920s
Annie Melchor | Sep 1, 2021 | 3 min read
Centuries of folklore backed by scientists in the early 1900s have perpetuated the idea that menstruating women can exert dangerous forces.
Birth of Midwifery, Circa 100 CE
Lisa Winter | Aug 1, 2021 | 3 min read
Soranus of Ephesus’s manual shaped the way midwifery was practiced for more than a millennium.
two black-and-white microscope images, one with a few black dots, the other with many rod-shaped bacteria
Identifying a Killer, 1895
Catherine Offord | Jul 1, 2021 | 4 min read
A contaminated ham put bacteriologist Émile Pierre-Marie van Ermengem on the path to discovering the microbe that produces botulinum toxin.
a large campus building, Frederick Douglass Memorial Hall at Howard University
Leader of the Pack, 1903–1994
Lisa Winter | Jun 1, 2021 | 3 min read
Ruth Ella Moore had a trailblazing career, overcoming barriers of racism and sexism as she pursued her interest in microbiology.
Can Single Cells Learn?
Catherine Offord | May 1, 2021 | 10+ min read
A controversial idea from the mid-20th century is attracting renewed attention from researchers developing theories for how cognition arises with or without a brain.
Stamping Out Science, 1948
Catherine Offord | May 1, 2021 | 4 min read
Trofim Lysenko’s attacks on geneticists had long-term effects on Russian science and scientists, despite a lack of evidence to support his beliefs about biological inheritance.
Infographic: Investigating Whether Single Cells Learn
Catherine Offord | May 1, 2021 | 2 min read
Historical and modern experiments have hinted that unicelluar organisms can learn from their experiences, but the idea still has its critics.
Bile and Potatoes, 1921
Jef Akst | Apr 1, 2021 | 3 min read
One hundred years after its invention, BCG has stood the test of time as a vaccine against tuberculosis.
ADVERTISEMENT