Punjabi microbiologist Surendra Nath Sehgal spent his life’s work studying a bacterium found in the soil on Easter Island. Called Rapamycin, it became a wonder drug, changing the lives of millions. “Uma, it’s a fantastic compound, it’s a miracle,” Sehgal would tell his wife during these early encounters. “Anything it touches gives good results.” Back […]
scientists
Posted inEditor's Pick
After ALS Struck, He Became the World’s Most Advanced Cyborg
“Scientist Dr. Peter Scott-Morgan is pushing the boundaries of what it means to be human.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
4 Dead Infants, a Convicted Mother, and a Genetic Mystery
“Kathleen Folbigg was found guilty of killing her babies. One scientist suspected the real culprit was mutant DNA—and went on a tireless quest to prove it.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Lab of Her Own
“Sheltered in her bedroom during World War II, Rita Levi-Montalcini discovered how the nervous system is wired.
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A Racist Scientist Built a Collection of Human Skulls. Should We Still Study Them?
“After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 sparked protests for racial justice around the country, more and more people within and outside Penn began to see the Morton collection as a present-day perpetuation of racism and its harms, rather than just a historic example.”
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes, Science & Nature
The Team of Scientists Behind Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine
How scientists developed a COVID-19 vaccine in record time.
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Luck, Foresight and Science: How an Unheralded Team Developed a COVID-19 Vaccine in Record Time
Credit for the COVID-19 vaccine “belongs to a series of uncelebrated discoveries dating back at least 15 years – and a constellation of unsung scientists.”
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The Oysters That Knew What Time It Was
“Are we autonomous, self-running machines, or is life in constant, subtle communication with the Earth, sun, moon, and even stars?”
Posted inCurrent Events, Essays & Criticism, History, Nonfiction, profile, Science & Nature, Story
Baring the Bones of the Lost Country: The Last Paleontologist in Venezuela
In light of recent events in crisis-ridden Venezuela, its last vertebrate paleontologist puts together key pieces of the baffling puzzle that the country has become in the past couple of decades.
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The Big Lie
How the story of an ambitious chemistry professor in Colorado who forged a letter and lost everything.