Online Editorials Archive
(November 28
th, 2017) Following the result of the 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum, the UK government has resolved to be the first nation ever to withdraw from the European Union. In the absence of any previous example nor any clear plan for how the UK will achieve its divorce, uncertainty reigns.
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(November 24
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Sounds in the Forest.
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(November 23
rd, 2017) Following the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum, the UK government has resolved to be the first nation ever to withdraw from the European Union. In the absence of any previous example nor any clear plan for how the UK will achieve its divorce, uncertainty reigns.
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(November 21
st, 2017) Magnetoreception is a fascinating sense but scientists still don't understand how it functions. Currently, three ideas are being tested, amongst others by researchers in Vienna.
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(November 17
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of scienc fun. Today: Pop goes science.
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(November 16
th, 2017) What do you think of when you hear about “spiders”? Arachnids, walk on eight legs, make some people scream…, but Italian scientists find they can also teach us important lessons in organismal biology.
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(November 14
th, 2017) We have all heard that synthetic biology can improve our quality of life. But do we really know what it entails? In October, the SynCity Film & Art Festival shed some light on synthetic biology research and raised awareness about its importance.
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(November 10
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Creative Zoology.
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(November 9
th, 2017) Independent of Brexit uncertainties, Jeremy Garwood reports on a number of other UK government policy changes and plans that are already changing the UK research labscape.
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(November 7
th, 2017) Independent of Brexit uncertainties, Jeremy Garwood reports on a number of other UK government policy changes and plans that are already changing the UK research labscape.
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(November 3
rd, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: The deadly duck.
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(November 2
nd, 2017) Does being a scientist influence the way you conduct your everyday life? Donald Nicolson say yes - his research work has made him a more skilful traveller.
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(October 31
st, 2017) Faced with the poor annotation of the chicken genome, molecular biologist Hiroshi Arakawa developed a method to disrupt gene expression via the CRISPR/Cas9 technology, without prior knowledge of target DNA sequences.
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(October 27
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Dermatologists in Hollywood.
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(October 26
th, 2017) EU-LIFE recently published a position paper, announcing key prioritities in the upcoming Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, FP9. One of the recommendations concerns the strengthening of basic research.
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(October 24
th, 2017) Networking is a well-established branch of professional development that secures growth on the career ladder. A recent study provides evidence that young researchers are less successful in mastering this craft, due to lack of training.
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(October 20
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: The truth about lab orders.
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(October 19
th, 2017) Independent of Brexit uncertainties, Jeremy Garwood reports on a number of other UK government policy changes and plans that are already changing the UK research labscape.
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(October 17
th, 2017) Independent of Brexit uncertainties, Jeremy Garwood reports on a number of other UK government policy changes and plans that are already changing the UK research labscape.
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(October 13
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Horoscope for
E. coli.
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(October 12
th, 2017) Fuel cells require platinum to function but this chemical element is scarce and expensive. French researchers replaced it with bacterial enzymes.
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(October 10
th, 2017) Earlier this year, scientists claimed that a caterpillar is able to digest plastic. But, as another team points out, their analysis is not conclusive.
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(October 6
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: An adipose unicorn.
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(October 5
th, 2017) Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson win this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing cryo-Electron Microscopy.
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(October 4
th, 2017) You don’t like cheese? Why ask? This is actually a scientific question. And because it is one that first makes you laugh and then think, it has been honoured with the infamous Ig Nobel Prize this year.
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(October 2
nd, 2017) The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was jointly awarded to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm.
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(September 29
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: A cloning poem.
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(September 28
th, 2017) There is an increasing awareness in the UK, and in many other countries, that women are under-represented in senior science positions. The SciSisters initiative tackles these problems directly.
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(September 26
th, 2017) Despite suffering from the consequences of a childhood brain injury, Donald Nicolson still made a career in science. Here's his story.
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(September 25
th, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(September 22
nd, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of scienc fun. Today: cool chemistry.
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(September 21
st, 2017) By analysing 10,000-year old DNA, Swedish researchers show when fish colonialised Swedish lakes.
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(September 19
th, 2017) In July, plant scientists from around the world agreed on a new roadmap for plant science and signed the Shenzhen Declaration.
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(September 18
th, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(September 15
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Prize-winning ear research.
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(September 14
th, 2017) Do you want to be more creative? No problem; scientists in Israel say it only needs some mind trickery.
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(September 12
th, 2017) Information Exchange Groups could have revolutionised science communication long ago - if only they hadn't been “strangulated” shortly after birth. What can their deaths teach us about the rising trend of preprinting?
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(September 11
th, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(September 8
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of scienc fun. Today: The taxonomy of plastic plants.
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(September 7
th, 2017) Four neuroscientists from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm screened 700,000 abstracts and discovered that scientific texts have become harder and harder to understand.
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(September 5
th, 2017) Just a few nanogram per kg body weight can kill a human. Recently, scientists in Sweden and the US discovered a new form of botulinum toxin.
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(September 4
th, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(September 1
st, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Portrait of a worm.
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(August 31
st, 2017) A new initiative is launched to reduce the time spent on manuscript resubmission, peer-review and the transfer to and from preprint servers.
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(August 29
th, 2017) Earlier this month, the ERC announced its funding plans for 2018. Besides the familiar grant types, there's a new one.
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(August 28
th, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(August 25
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: A praise of flow cytometry.
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(August 24
th, 2017) Neuroscientists are looking beyond worms, flies and mice to study the evolution and function of the nervous system.
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(August 22
nd, 2017) Making stable cell lines is a laborious task. Canadian researchers came up with a new method using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in.
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(August 21
st, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(August 18
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: A happy cancer cell.
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(August 17
th, 2017) Open science is becoming more and more prevalent. Critics, however, think this approach makes it easier to steal somebody else’s ideas. A new study explores how some researchers not only do not fear open science but, in fact, welcome it as a way to fight illegitimate scooping.
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(August 15
th, 2017) The multidisciplinary project, ANIMPACT, was established in 2013 to address how legislation, regulating animal research, impacts upon biomedical research in Europe. Now, the first results are in.
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(August 3
rd, 2017) Digging deep into our archive, we found quite a few gems from the past, worth a second read. Here's a 2006 interview with geneticist Leena Peltonen-Palotie (†2010) about population studies in Finland and the European and US science spirit.
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(August 1
sth, 2017) Digging deep into our archive, we found quite a few gems from the past, worth a second read. Here's some Incredible Science from the secret archives of the IgNobel committee, from 2006.
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(July 28
th, 2017) Digging deep into our archive, we found quite a few gems from the past, worth a second read. Here's a 2011 interview with developmental biologist Peter Lawrence about the 'broken' research system.
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(July 25
th, 2017) Digging deep into our archive, we found quite a few gems from the past, worth a second read. Here's a 2012 Research Letter from our corresponding author, Tocou Peixes, from Portugal.
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(July 21
st, 2017) Digging deep into our archive, we found quite a few gems from the past, worth a second read. Here's a 2009 interview with vaccine researcher Rino Rappuoli about the worldwide swine flu pandemic at that time.
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(July 18
th, 2017) Digging deep into our archive, we found quite a few gems from the past, worth a second read. Here's some Incredible Science from the secret archives of the IgNobel committee, from 2007.
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(July 14
th, 2017) Digging deep into our archive, we found quite a few gems from the past, worth a second read. Here's an interview with the inventor of the Southern blot, Edwin Southern, from 2013.
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(July 12
th, 2017) Digging deep into our archive, we found quite a few gems from the past, worth a second read. Here's a Lab Times classic from 2009, a Research Letter from Denmark by our corresponding author, Tahor Grundtvig.
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(July 5
th, 2017) Lab Times online will take a break until August. So, enjoy summer but don't forget...
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(July 4
th, 2017) Non-functioning antibodies are a nuisance in every lab. But when two decades of research are based on them, problems are of a much bigger dimension.
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(July 3
rd, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(June 30
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Riot in the Respiratory Tract.
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(June 29
th, 2017) Independent of Brexit uncertainties, Jeremy Garwood reports on a number of other UK government policy changes and plans that are already changing the UK research labscape.
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(June 27
th, 2017) Independent of Brexit uncertainties, Jeremy Garwood reports on a number of other UK government policy changes and plans that are already changing the UK research labscape.
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(June 26
th, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(June 23
rd, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Noninsect Arthropods in Popular Music.
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(June 22
nd, 2017) Life scientists from Imperial College London helped to develop a new free mobile computer game, which wants to crack one of the hardest problems in biological science – how molecules fit together.
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(June 21
st, 2017) Switzerland-based publisher Frontiers awarded its first Frontiers Spotlight Award, honouring an entire research topic – brain augmentation.
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(June 19
th, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times serialised crime story.
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(June 16
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Prokaryote Poetry.
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(June 15
th, 2017) A new European network tackling scientific misconduct was launched in May. Will it be a step forward to academic integrity?
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(June 13
th, 2017) Expecting tweets only from birds sitting in trees? A poplar tree at Wageningen University learned to twitter itself – with a little help from the scientists who work with it.
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(June 12
th, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(June 9
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: A precious case from Middle Earth.
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(June 8
th, 2017) Maya Schuldiner from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel is the recipient of the 2017 EMBO Gold Medal. She receives the award for significantly advancing the understanding of protein synthesis, trafficking and quality control in yeast.
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(June 6
th, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(June 2
nd, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: The evolution of household articles.
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(June 1
st, 2017) Viruses, proteins or subcellular structures are only possible to observe through expensive techniques that often kill or destroy the sample. But this might change as a group of scientists in Europe are pushing the boundaries of what optics has so far allowed us.
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(May 30
th, 2017) Independent of Brexit uncertainties, Jeremy Garwood reports on a number of other UK government policy changes and plans that are already changing the UK research labscape.
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(May 26
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Eminem in the lab.
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(May 25
th, 2017) Independent of Brexit uncertainties, Jeremy Garwood reports on a number of other UK government policy changes and plans that are already changing the UK research labscape.
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(May 23
rd, 2017) The European Science Foundation launched an expert services division called Science Connect last month. Lab Times got in touch with Jean-Claude Worms, the ESF Chief Executive to learn more about this division and the services they offer.
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(May 22
nd, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(May 19
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Something straight from the Little Shop of Horrors.
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(May 18
th, 2017) Smell is one of our most important senses. But how does it develop? And why are some people more sensitive to certain odours? A UK research team looked into the noses of mice to find out.
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(May 16
th, 2017) Can plants learn, do they think ahead? Many would think these are silly questions. Not so Anthony Trewavas, who recently published a preprint on bioRxiv wondering whether plants are sentient.
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(May 15
th, 2017) Here's a new episode of Lab Times' serialised crime story.
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(May 12
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Cinematic eye poking.
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(May 11
th, 2017) Later this year, the EU will decide about the future of Roundup in Europe. We spoke with biochemist Michael Antoniou, who together with colleagues, recently voiced concern over the use of the herbicide.
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(May 9
th, 2017) Gene expression profiles often look boring and confusing. Perhaps a little music could make data presentation and analysis all the more enjoyable.
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(May 8
th, 2017) Here's Lab Times' new serialised crime story. Episode 5: Late Night Labwork.
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(May 5
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: A poetic bug.
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(May 4
th, 2017) Although the medical benefits of the immunotherapy drug have been proven, patients in the UK will not receive it any time soon.
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(May 2
nd, 2017) The European Molecular Biology Laboratory is on the brink of opening a new research site dedicated to tissue biology and disease modelling in Barcelona. EMBL’s Director General, Iain Mattaj, shared details of this brand new venture with your Lab Times reporter.
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(April 28
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Best-of March for Science signs.
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(April 27
th, 2017) An interview with Britta Lang, Deputy Director of the German Cochrane Centre, about the interactions underlying one of the world’s largest medical research collaborations.
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(April 25
th, 2017) Here's Lab Times' new serialised crime story. Episode 4: Meeting the boss.
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(April 24
th, 2017) Impressions from the March for Science in Leipzig, Germany.
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(April 21
st, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: A happy face in the reproductive system.
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(April 20
th, 2017) Ticks and bedbugs are an increasing health problem worldwide. The EU-supported BETITEX project has come up with a solution: an environmentally and human-friendly textile that protects against these unwanted “guests”.
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(April 18
th, 2017) Here's Lab Times' new serialised crime story. Episode 3: A difficult situation.
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(April 13
th, 2017) Aptamers are becoming increasingly popular as therapeutics and antibody alternatives. Because of their size, they could prove valuable for neurosciences, too.
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(April 11
th, 2017) The alarming rise in measles outbreaks across Europe is challenging efforts towards eliminating this contagious disease. Lab Times contacted the WHO Regional Office for Europe to understand the bare facts.
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(April 10
th, 2017) Here's Lab Times' new serialised crime story. Episode 2: Eureka!
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(April 7
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Confectionary rabbit auricular amputation.
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(April 6
th, 2017) Last February, an extraordinary conference took place in Portugal. It was a meeting to discuss how to teach society about evolution and why this is so important. We spoke with the event's organisers about the challenges of presenting the concept of evolution to the general public.
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(April 4
th, 2017) In late March, the European Commission received the new European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity from Europe's national academies of sciences and humanities.
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(April 3
rd, 2017) Here's Lab Times' new serialised crime story. Episode 1: Life of a Scientist.
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(March 31
st, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: A funny and sad poem by a famous geneticist.
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(March 30
th, 2017) The European Science Foundation launched a survey to see what career paths PhDs follow after graduation. Results are expected in June this year.
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(March 28
th, 2017) While scanning through the latest manuscripts on the BioRxiv preprint server, we noticed some fresh new ideas for and observations from the academic publishing sector.
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(March 24
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: The Hipster Scientist.
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(March 24
th, 2017) In Earth’s entire history, five mass extinctions have killed millions of species. In the hostile post-extinction world, one phylum has, however, managed to conquer the sea floors all over the world – the kingdom of sponges.
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(March 21
st, 2017) In a recently published white paper, five scholars say that we need a new revolution in academic publishing. Scientists themselves or scientific organisations should take over paper publishing.
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(March 17
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today (a bit more serious): Heavy Metal and scientific thinking.
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(March 16
th, 2017) Peer review has several weak points, one is that it can take very long. On the website SciRev.sc, researchers are able to share their experience. Jeroen Smits and Janine Huisman from Radboud University analysed the comments and revealed striking observations.
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(March 14
th, 2017) More and more researchers are taking advantage of publishing their manuscripts to a preprint server, like bioRxiv. Because we think this is the future of academic publishing, we will, from now on, regularly report on the freshest ideas and findings from European labs.
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(March 10
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Polynesian deities under the microscope.
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(March 9
th, 2017) On 22nd April, a global March for Science hopes to focus attention on the pressing need to stand up for the values of science and its role in democracy.
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(March 7
th, 2017) What's the best thing to do when you notice misconduct in your lab? Take immediate action. Sophie Martin at the University of Lausanne was in this very situation recently.
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(March 3
rd, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: The Lab Grammys.
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(March 2
nd, 2017) Watching, slack-jawed, as democracy and scientific reason are being crushed across the pond, science organisations in Europe urge the European Commission to take action and advocate the value of science.
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(February 28
th, 2017) Originally designed to sequence DNA and RNA, US-American scientists found a way to map cytosine and adenosine methylation with the Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION.
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(February 24
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Some exercise for the weekend!
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(February 23
rd, 2017) Life arises from pre-existing life. This is true, except at the very beginning, some 4.5 billion years ago. At that time, there was no life but then, extraordinary things happened. German scientists came up with a testable model of the origin of life.
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(February 21
st, 2017) Still reluctant to adopt an open science approach? Belgian researchers offer tips and good arguments.
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(February 17
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today, we present to you not alternative facts but alternative definitions.
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(February 16
th, 2017) With increasing globalisation, life becomes more and more complex. It's not the first time, a society has to come to terms with information overload. An EU project investigates.
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(February 14
th, 2017) The beginning of 2017 saw Switzerland regain full access to the nearly €80 billion EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020.
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(February 10
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Real-Time PCR. Surreal-Time PCR?!
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(February 9
th, 2017) A cartoon video by French cell biologist, Matthieu Piel, won the first prize at a recent science conference. He tells us more about the making of the video and the importance of science communication.
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(February 7
th, 2017) It was one of the most controversial official acts, when Donald Trump ordered a travel ban for citizens of seven countries. Supported by EMBO, scientists in Europe offer their help to stranded colleagues.
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(February 34
rd, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Traumatic brain injuries in Asterix comic books.
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(February 2
nd, 2017) Ever wondered what happens when you put an artist into a lab? The artists-in-labs programme of the Zurich University of the Arts has been facilitating exactly such exchanges for the last 13 years.
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(January 31
st, 2017) Some people take their lessons from nature, some take their tools from nature. But Rebecca Schulman of Johns Hopkins University recently did both, and cracked the problem of how to build with DNA nanotubes.
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(January 27
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Colourful Disease.
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(January 26
th, 2017) Do you have some leftover material from your animal experiments? Why not share it? A new database brings givers and takers closer together.
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(January 24
th, 2017) New Year, new me – people around the world take the turn of the year as a chance to get healthier and fitter. But what sport is the best to reach your goals? Football, running, or perhaps Zumba? Finnish researchers might know the answer.
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(January 20
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Ten science jokes for your amusement.
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(January 19
th, 2017) Super-Mendelian inheritance is one of those terms that recently stopped being science fiction. It turned previous legislation into actual fact and made us wonder how to rule its science. This technology called “gene drivers” faced a ban from the United Nations last December.
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(January 17
th, 2017) In a recent article, a group of scientists lobby passionately for the publication of negative results. We spoke with first author, Silas Boye Nissen.
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(January 13
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Does it Fart?
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(January 12
th, 2017) What's in store for science in 2017? Hans Clevers, Francis Levi and George Church look into the crystall ball and make their predictions.
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(January 10
th, 2017) This year, the European Research Council turns ten. Started as a pioneering experiment back in 2007, it has since become a genuine success story.
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(January 6
th, 2017) Get ready for your weekly dose of science fun. Today: Sex differences in idiotic behaviour.
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(January 4
th, 2017) Just when you thought, all the world's animals, plants and fungi have been discovered, new species pop up in unusual places - on Facebook, the deep sea and even in Europe. Here's our selection of newly-described species.
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