Whistleblowers Under the Spotlight

Neuronal Inhibition under the Spotlight

In this issue of Neuron,Lin et al. (2015) report an optical method to precisely manipulate the activity of GABAA receptors by designing a mutant receptor that binds photosensitive compounds. This allows for studying GABAA receptors in situ and represents a valuable tool to investigate how inhibition affects brain physiology.

Whistleblowers.

T he term whistleblower comes from the phrase ‘‘blow the whistle’’, which refers to a whistle being blown by a policeman or a referee to indicate an activity that is illegal or a foul [1]. Recently, whistleblowers have disseminated valuable information to the community through new media outlets, such as WikiLeaks. In medicine, whistleblowers serve to shed light on side-effects of drugs and, occ...

Wildlife prospects under spotlight

today with a study showing that it is possible to treat the degenerative brain disorder with cells derived from cloned embryos-a development condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, " the paper reported. " The research was carried out on laboratory mice but scientists believe the findings are proof that the techniques could be applied to humans suffering not just from Parkinson's but a range of ...

The postdoctoral system under the spotlight.

If there is one thing that most European life scientists agree on, it is that the academic systems in which they work are far from ideal. Good science requires innovation and creativity, but most European academic organizations and funding agencies have rigid and hierarchical structures that do little to foster intellectual independence among young researchers. Scientists from these countries l...

Protecting Whistleblowers By Contract