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 November 2009 are listed
below. To view featured interviews from past months/years, visit the
Featured Interviews Main Menu.
Excerpt from the
interview: "My research is
driven by three unifying questions:
1) how did past climate changes
affect biodiversity? 2) how might
current and future environmental
changes affect biodiversity? 3) how
can biodiversity be conserved given
current and future challenges? To
address these questions I use large
climate and species distributions
databases..."
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "Our paper provides
interested users with a tool to
interpret the spectral energy
distributions of stellar
populations in galaxies, from the
Milky Way all the way to the most
distant galaxies discovered in the
universe. The evolution in time of
the light emitted by stars in a
galaxy or a star cluster is a
valuable clue to
understanding..."
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview:
"
Olive oil, and more correctly
virgin olive oil, is a very complex
matrix constituted mainly of
triglycerides (>98%), although
minor components are the most
interesting. This fraction contains
some molecules (i.e. phenolic
compounds, tocopherols, and
squalene) that are interesting in
terms of their
potential..."
View Article
Excerpt from the article:
"According to the Fourth Assessment
Report of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC)1, which was
completed in 2007, the observed
increases in temperature around the
globe are more than likely due to
human activities, particularly with
regard to greenhouse gas emissions,
and the warming and
consequent..."
View Article
To assess research into climate
change and global warming over the
last decade, Science Watch examined
some 28,000 pertinent papers
published between 1999 and the
spring of 2009. Among institutions,
the National Center for Atmospheric
Research and the Smithsonian
Institution distinguished
themselves in terms of citation
impact. The featured highly cited
researchers represent not only
climate science but such
specialties as marine science,
geography, and evolutionary
biology.
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview:While
studying the intracellular
trafficking of N-linked
glycoproteins in human colon cancer
cells, my team’s studies
revealed slight trimming of
high-mannose glycans in the complex
glycans in undifferentiated cells,
but not in differentiated cells.
Lysosomal inhibitors and
3-methyladenine, an inhibitor of
autophagy..."
View Article
Excerpt from the interview:
"Forest Pathology was born in
1971, as the European Journal
of Forest Pathology, a year
after a small group of prominent
European forest pathologists
developed the idea for the journal
during a meeting in Germany. The
first editor-in-chief was Professor
Peter Schütt of the University
of Munich. The editorial
board..."
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "This paper came
out at a time when there was
renewed interest in understanding
the ways in which classrooms and
teachers can contribute to positive
outcomes for students. Despite a
lot of evidence in the
developmental literature about the
importance of children’s
relationships and interactions with
adults in early childhood..."
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "Thomas V.
Inglesby, deputy director of the
Center for Biosecurity of the
University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center, discusses recent efforts to
prepare for biological threats,
both natural and human-made. Making
the country resilient to such
threats, via accelerated
development of vaccines, anti-viral
medications, and other..."
View Article
According to
Essential Science
IndicatorsSM
from
Clarivate, among the 149
top-performing countries in all
fields, Ireland ranked #35 for
citations (399,211), #39 for papers
(38,841), and #29 (10.28) for
citations per paper. Average
citation rates are across all
nations for all papers published by
field. Time period: 1999-August 31,
2009.
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "Engineers and
designers of conventional
fossil-fired power-generation
plants constantly push for
increased efficiency in an effort
to produce more power with less
pollution. To increase efficiency,
higher operating temperatures are
required. In the case of nuclear
fission and nuclear fusion power
plants, not only are high..."
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "Zhenfeng Liu is
currently a research associate and
postdoctoral scholar in the Rees
lab at the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute of the California
Institute of Technology. He is lead
author of the
Top
Topics paper selected from the
field of Plant & Animal
Sciences for the month of
June 2009: “Crystal
structure of spinach
major..." Podcast
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Excerpt from the feature:
"This map of is based on
research-front data for the
six-year period ending in June
2009. The maps shows the major
component areas of fields linked
together in a network based on the
same principles as our
research-front maps showing highly
cited papers. To create a field
map, we first identify all research
fronts
in..."
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "We were always
interested in molecular detail of
vision, namely the understanding of
proteins, protein interactions, and
signal transduction involved in
eyesight at a structural level.
We'd been working for many years on
different proteins of visual signal
transduction. It wasn't until a
very talented post-doc from Japan
came..."
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview: This is literally
the result of more than 10 years of
work. My lab was the first one to
develop a system that allows
changing the genome of an influenza
virus. So why is that important? In
order to study influenza virus or
other viruses, you would like to
change a particular amino acid and
then look for whether that
change..."
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "Our paper
introduced a mathematically
rigorous method (Maxent) for
modeling species geographic
distributions, based on known
occurrences and environmental
(especially climatic) predictor
variables. Applying such models to
predicted future climatic
conditions enables prediction of
climate-change impact on individual
species..."
View Article
Excerpt from the
interview: "Adam G. Riess,
Prof. of Physics and Astronomy at
the Johns Hopkins University and a
Senior member of the Science Staff
at the Space Telescope Science
Institute, Baltimore, MD, discusses
his 2004 Astrophysical
Journal paper, "Type Ia
supernova discoveries at z > 1
from the Hubble Space Telescope:
Evidence for past deceleration and
constraints on dark energy
evolution..." Podcast
Excerpt from the
interview: "Tremendous debate
has arisen in both the scientific
community and the general public
over the past decade regarding the
derivation and use of human
embryonic stem cells. Though the
derivation of human embryonic stem
cells is fraught with ethical
considerations, the potential
application of these cells in
areas..."
View Article