In these interviews, scientists talk to ScienceWatch.com and
offer behind-the-scenes insights into their research: reflections on
what led them to their chosen field, the motivation driving their work
in a given direction, and the challenges encountered along on the way.
These authors also offer their views on why their work has wielded
particular influence in the scientific community, as indicated by
Clarivate
citation data, and on how research in their respective fields has
progressed over time and will likely unfold in the future.
Featured interviews for June 2008 are listed below. To
view featured interviews from past months/years, visit the
Featured
Interviews Main Menu.
Excerpt
from the interview:
"...there have been all kinds of
data showing that in animals each
microRNA—at least, each
highly conserved microRNA—is
targeting hundreds of messenger
RNAs. In 2005, for instance, we
showed that for each microRNA or
microRNA family—there are
about 80 or 90 of these families in
mammals—there..."
View
Article
Sara Burt discusses
her current work on the
antibacterial properties of
essential oils obtained from
plants. Burt has a corresponding
Fast Moving Front Comment from
May 2008 regarding this research.
She is a
Current
Classics scientist (Agr.
Sci.) from Feb. 2008.
Podcast Menu. Listen to
Podcast:
MP3 ¦
WMA
Mark J. Daly -
Featured Science
Watch® Newsletter
Interview
Computational biologist Mark J.
Daly of Massachusetts General
Hospital and the Broad Institute,
Boston, discusses his work,
particularly on a catalogue of
genetic variation known as HapMap,
a resource which has assisted in
elucidating the genetic
underpinnings of type 2 diabetes
and other diseases."
View
Article
Excerpt
from the interview: "In
the next decade, we will have a
European space mission, Rosetta,
that will land on Comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (in
2014). This will allow us, for the
first time, to study the
composition of a cometary nucleus
in situ. This space
mission promises exciting results
about the..."
View
Article
Excerpt
from the interview: "We
have been successful in appointing
distinguished scientists from
across the world to the Editorial
Board and Advisory Board, and they
increasingly reflect the spread of
the molecular approach to biology
into the life sciences, including
medicine..."
View
Article
Excerpt
from the interview:
"The toxins in which I specialize
are produced by several species of
the genus Fusarium. They
include trichothecene mycotoxins
such as deoxynivalenol and
zearalenone. They are also very
stable and can survive cooking. The
trichothecenes are not acutely
toxic but they can weaken the
immune system..."
View
Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "It makes
the strongest case yet for android
science. Android science posits a
synergistic relation between
developing very humanlike robots
and understanding human interaction
and the processes behind it.
Android science provides synthetic
and analytical methods to
understand mechanisms underlying
interaction..."
View
Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "We believe
that this paper is of general
interest to the broad materials
community because it assimilates
the areas of semiconductor
nanowires, chemical sensors,
electronic noses, and
high-performance electronics on
plastic substrates..."
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "This paper
is a comprehensive—and we
think balanced—review of the
then fledging and now maturing
discipline of nanotoxicology, which
we defined as "the science of
engineered nanostructures and
nanodevices that..."
View Article
Professor Sir John
Pendry, Chair in Theoretical
Solid State Physics at The
Imperial College, London,
discusses his work with
magnetism from conductors and
enhanced nonlinear phenomena.
Pendry has a corresponding
Emerging
Research Front Comment from
October 2007 regarding this
research. He is a
Current
Classics scientist (Eng.)
from
Feb. &
Apr. 2008.
Listen:
MP3|
WMA
Excerpt
from the interview:
"The publication of these findings
gained widespread attention in the
media and in scientific circles.
This resulted in a marked shift in
attitudes towards this hormone
therapy, with prescriptions
dropping by some two-thirds in the
months following publication (and
remaining at those or lower levels
since then). The Food and Drug
Administration..."
View
Article
ScienceWatch.compresents
a listing of the top 20
institutions which, as of the first
bimonthly update of
Essential Science
Indicatorsattracted
the highest total citations to
their papers published in
Clarivate
-indexed
Social Sciences journals. They are
the top 20 out of a pool of 563
institutions comprising the top 1%
ranked by total citation count in
this field.
View
Article
Excerpt
from the interview:
"Biofuels are high on the political
agenda worldwide. Rocketing oil
prices and concerns about global
warming have made plants valuable
alternative raw materials for
making liquid biofuels. Biofuels
such as bioethanol, biomethanol,
and dimethylfuran are derived from
the fermentation of simple
sugars..."
View Article
(Additional
interviews/commentaries will be
added during June 2008)