For the third year in a row, Science News profiled 10 early- and mid-career innovators who are transforming their fields in “The SN 10: Scientists to watch” (SN: 10/14/17, p. 16).
The profiles left some readers inspired, intrigued and wanting to know more about these scientists’ research.
“Really enjoying these portraits, thanks, SN!” online reader Maia commented on the profile of SN 10 scientist Lena Pernas. A postdoctoral fellow at the University of Padua in Italy, Pernas studies an infectious parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite and its host’s energy-producing mitochondria fight over fuel, Pernas has found (SN: 10/14/17, p. 16). An image featured in the profile that shows T. gondii in a host-cell vacuole surrounded by a chain of mitochondria “felt somehow iconic,” Maia wrote. It reminded her of the proposed endosymbiotic theory, “of how mitochondria themselves (formerly free bacteria) got their start inside eukaryotic cells, possibly as a kind of limited parasite, then in the détente that followed, both cells found a way to share the food and contribute to each other’s well-being.”
Computer scientist M. Ehsan Hoque of the University of Rochester in New York, and one of this year’s scientists to watch, programs emotionally attuned digital assistants that can help people improve their social interactions and public speaking (SN: 10/14/17, p. 19). Artificial intelligence has “focused on humanlike features and applications. I’m not underrating these social and business applications,” Uolevi…
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