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 May 2008 are listed below. To
view featured interviews from past months/years, visit the
Featured
Interviews Main Menu.
Excerpt
from the interview:
"The journal is published by the
International Union of
Crystallography (IUCr). One of the
main roles of the Union is to
promote international publication
of crystallographic research, and
it does this principally by
publishing journals and books to
the highest quality
standards..."
View
Article
Excerpt
from the interview:
"Our paper discusses emerging
trends not yet described—we
use the most recent data in a novel
way, combined with a novel forecast
model. The most interesting trend
discussed is the emergence of a new
group of people entering the
nursing profession..."
View
Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "My review
bundled the current knowledge on
the antibacterial properties of
edible volatile oils (essential
oils) obtained from plants. It
summarized the known facts on
concentrations required to inhibit
growth of pathogenic bacteria
and/or to
reduce..."
View Article
Excerpt
from the interview:
"I’d have to say that
it’s always important for us
to stay connected with the real
world and particularly with the
real world of agriculture. As
laboratory researchers, we have to
remember who we ultimately work
for. And that’s sort of a
mantra for the whole USDA. We work
for the public. We work for the
agricultural industry..."
View
Article
Mark Enright -
Special Topic of
Methicillin-Resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA)
Excerpt
from the interview:
"Prior to our development of an
MLST scheme for S. aureus
it was difficult to compare the
strains of bacteria that cause
disease to those in other
hospitals, or to those that live
harmlessly in the nose of
approximately a third of the human
population, or to the first MRSA
strains from the 1960s..."
View
Article
Geoffrey M. Hodgson
is a Research Professor in
Business Studies at the
University of Hertfordshire in
the UK; here he discusses core
Darwinian principles for the
analysis of social and economic
evolution.
Read his New
Hot Paper comment from Jan.
2008.
Listen to podcast:
MP3 ¦
WMA.
Excerpt
from the interview:
"The paper reports the first
nationally representative
population-based data on the
prevalence and correlates of eating
disorders in the United States. The
data come from the National
Comorbidity Survey Replication
(NCS-R), a nationally
representative..."
View
Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "There is
presently a lot of concern about
pharmaceuticals contaminating the
natural environment. Antibiotics
may enter the terrestrial
environment when improving soils
with animal manure. Our study
tested the effects of two widely
used antibiotics, tylosin..."
View Article
Excerpt
from the interview:
"The composition of our Sun is not
only important for comparison to
astronomical observations of other
stars or for input to models of
stellar evolution. It is also
important because it is
representative of the material from
which everything in the solar
system—the Sun..."
View
Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "This
research began with the work
described in the Mootha, VK et
al. Nat. Genet. paper that
sought to identify significant
differences between samples of
patients with type II diabetes and
those with normal glucose
tolerance. While single-gene
approaches showed no
significant..."
View
Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "I believe
the main reason this paper is
highly cited is because it reveals
a serious, even shocking, neglect
of the physical health of millions
of individuals suffering from
chronic
schizophrenia,
a disabling psychiatric brain
disorder. The data in this
paper, based on the landmark
NIMH-funded CATIE
study..."
View Article
In this podcast,
Robert Sampson talks about his
interest in criminology and
urban sociology and the linkage
of urban neighborhoods with
violence.
Read his
Fast Breaking Paper comment.
View an article from
PNAS.
Listen:
MP3 ¦
WMA
Excerpt
from the interview:
"Back in the early 1990s, I was
asked to consult with a drug
company to help set up studies
mainly in Europe on panic
disorders. We were discussing how
we could be sure we were going to
get panic patients, and we said
we’d use a structured
diagnostic
interview..."
View
Article
Excerpt
from the interview:
"...the fields that are inherent to
our university—namely
theoretical physics, condensed and
soft matter physics, and
biophysics—are those in which
the University endeavors to become
even better known in the
international physical
community...."
View
Article
Peidong Yang is a
Professor of Chemistry at the
University of California,
Berkeley. Here he discusses his
lab’s interdisciplinary
research in semiconductor
nanowires. Yang is a
Current
Classics scientist (Mat.
Sci.) from Apr. 2008.
Listen:
MP3 ¦
WMA
(Additional
interviews/commentaries will be
added during May 2008)