Reviews
The mRNA Nobelist
One day in 1997, University of Pennsylvania molecular biologist Katalin (Kati) Karikó met a new hire at the photocopier who would change the trajectory of her research forever. At 42, the scientist had made little headway with her big idea that mRNA—the ephemeral molecule that...
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The Power of Language
At the pediatrician’s clinic, a nurse told Viorica Marian, who is a native speaker of Romanian, to use only English with her American-born daughter. Speaking another language would “confuse” the child and hurt her long-term, the woman had said. This was a good decade ago....
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Vera Rubin
Ashley Jean Yeager VERA RUBIN began her career at a time when women were denied access to telescopes at leading observatories. Eventually her work helped scientists rethink the content of the cosmos. In Bright Galaxies, Dark Matter, and Beyond, science writer Ashley Jean Yeager traces the...
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Science at Sundance 2023
Illustration by Islenia Mil for Science This year I had a chance two science-related films screened at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah — two vastly different films, but both struck a chord. Poacher A gunshot pierces the skull of an adult male elephant, a tusker,...
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Darkness Manifesto
In the twilight, bats, which nest in the old church of Suntak in Sweden, fly around, hunting for insects. The twelfth century church’s façade is not lit up at night. So, as in the past, the church remains a sanctuary for bats, remarkable creatures which...
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