Behind the paper stories
Every paper has a story behind it, and we regularly commission scientists to tell theirs. In this collection you’ll discover the highs and the lows, the chance encounters and life changing discoveries from the breadth of developmental biology and stem cell research.
Recent posts
Behind the paper: how to turn scales into feathers
Posted by rorylcooper, on 16 June 2023
Read the story behind the paper about an experimental method for transforming chicken scales into true feathers.Uncovering the origins of the adult adipose tissue in flies
Posted by Tadashi Uemura, on 24 May 2023
Read the story behind the work by Taiichi Tsuyama, Tadashi Uemura and colleagues, uncovering the precursor cells that give rise to the adult fat body in Drosophila.Behind the Paper: the discovery of a novel cell type involved in fly touch sensing
Posted by Federica Mangione, on 23 May 2023
Read the story behind the paper where Dr Federica Mangione, Nic Tapon and colleagues report a new type of specialised epidermal cells involved in touch sensing in Drosophila.Haemorrhages in foetal brain tissue associated with the presence of SARS-CoV-2: How SARS-CoV-2 impacted our PhD bringing new and important findings.
Posted by Marco Massimo, on 19 May 2023
Read the story behind the work by Marco Massimo, Carlotta Barelli and Katie Long looking into haemorrhages in foetal brain tissue.Behind the paper: How veiled chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus) make their left and right sides.
Posted by Natasha Shylo, on 15 May 2023
Read the behind the scenes story of a recent article by Dr. Natalia (Natasha) Shylo, Dr. Paul Trainor and colleagues at Stowers Institute for Medical Research.Behind the paper: The mechanisms underlying microglial expansion in the developing brain
Posted by the Node, on 1 May 2023
Dr Liam Barry-Carroll, Dr David A Menassa, Professor Diego Gomez-Nicola and colleagues have recently published a paper in Cell Reports elucidating the mechanisms by which microglial cells expand as a …Behind the paper story: TWISTED, the birth of a new gene
Posted by Nayelli Marsch Martinez, on 25 April 2023
Nayelli Marsch-Martínez tells the story behind the paper on finding a gene that appears to have been generated de novo, in a specific branch of the plant kingdom.Behind the paper story: uncovering non-canonical functions of the Hippo pathway
Posted by Heya Zhao, on 21 April 2023
Heya Zhao shares the story behind a recently published paper in Dev Cell where they reveal the non-canonical functions of the Hippo pathway in developmental cell fate decisions in the …
“If you notice something unusual in your experiments, don’t just throw it away!”
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Our full archive going back to 2010 is filterable by category, tag and date.