Measuring Masters and Masterpieces

On masterpieces and breast cancer research.

The artist Henri Matisse captured the essence of a problem we often have in science—those landmark discoveries that benchmark the type of progress we think we should be continuously making. This edition of CCR Focus presents instead an alternative view of discovery and progress, one in which a steady expansion of our understanding of the biology of breast cancer has led to progress on multiple ...

Mathematical Masterpieces: Teaching with Original Sources

Our upper-level university honors course, entitled Great Theorems: The Art of Mathematics, views mathematics as art and examines selected mathematical masterpieces from antiquity to the present. Following a common practice in the humanities, for example in Chicago’s Great Books program and St. John’s College curriculum, we have students read original texts without any modern writer or instructo...

Science and Culture: Petri palettes create microbial masterpieces.

SCIENCE AND CULTURE Correction for “Science and Culture: Petri palettes create microbial masterpieces,” by Jyoti Madhusoodanan, which appeared in issue 40, October 4, 2016, of Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (113:11056–11058; 10.1073/pnas.1610867113). The editors note that “American Society of Microbiology (ASM)” should instead appear as “The American Society for Microbiology (ASM).” The editors also no...

Route masters

Many turtle species are endangered through a variety of human activities, from beach development, boating and shipping, and fishing. Awareness of the problems has mostly focused on protection of beaches used for breeding as individuals return to highly specific sites where they are particularly vulnerable. Apart from their breeding sites, much less is known about their long and complex movement...

External masters