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
Assembling a “Stem Cell Zoo”
Posted by Jorge Lazaro, on 12 July 2023
One of the most fascinating observations that comes from comparing mammalian development is the difference in developmental tempo across species (Ebisuya & Briscoe, 2018). Mice and humans develop through a …Living up to your cnidarian potential
Posted by Áine Varley, on 22 June 2023
Áine Varley tells the story behind the paper “Pluripotent, germ cell competent adult stem cells underlie cnidarian regenerative ability and clonal growth”.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 …
“If you notice something unusual in your experiments, don’t just throw it away!”
Do you have a story to tell? We can give comments on drafts and any level of editing you want, and we particularly encourage contributions from researchers for whom English is not their first language.
Writing tips and ideas
Check out our page for writing tips for Node bloggers. We also have a mailing list for occasional writing ideas — simply update your email preferences once you’ve registered an account with us.
Our full archive going back to 2010 is filterable by category, tag and date.