by Matthew R. Krause, Pedro G. Vieira, Christopher C. Pack Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) is one of the oldest and yet least understood forms of brain stimulation. The idea that a weak electrical stimulus, applied outside the head, can meaningfully affect neural activity is often regarded as mysterious. Here, we argue that the direct effects of tES are not so mysterious: Extensive data from a wide range of model systems shows it has appreciable effects on the activity of individual neurons. Instead, the real mysteries are how tES interacts with the brain’s own activity and how these ..read more

by Nonia Pariente, on behalf of the PLOS Biology staff editors PLOS began publishing influential open access science in 2003. As PLOS Biology enters its third decade, we reflect on our mission, what has changed, what remains to be done and our wishes for the future. As PLOS Biology enters its third decade, we reflect on our mission, what has changed, what remains to be done and our wishes for the future ..read more

by Shannon N. Leahy, Chunzhu Song, Dominic J. Vita, Kendal Broadie Noonan syndrome (NS) and NS with multiple lentigines (NSML) cognitive dysfunction are linked to SH2 domain-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase-2 (SHP2) gain-of-function (GoF) and loss-of-function (LoF), respectively. In Drosophila disease models, we find both SHP2 mutations from human patients and corkscrew (csw) homolog LoF/GoF elevate glutamatergic transmission. Cell-targeted RNAi and neurotransmitter release analyses reveal a presynaptic requirement. Consistently, all mutants exhibit reduced synaptic depression during hi ..read more

by Flora Vincent, Assaf Vardi Viruses are the most abundant biological entity in the ocean and infect a wide range of microbial life across bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. In this essay, we take a journey across several orders of magnitude in the scales of biological organization, time, and space of host–virus interactions in the ocean, aiming to shed light on their ecological relevance. We start from viruses infecting microbial host cells by delivering their genetic material in seconds across nanometer-size membranes, which highjack their host’s metabolism in a few minutes to hours, leadin ..read more

by Jacob L. Steenwyk, Antonis Rokas Tracing the history of evolution across time is a primary goal of evolutionary biology. The 2006 publication of a landmark study on relaxed phylogenetics in PLOS Biology enabled biologists to shed light on evolution’s tempo and shaped the future of evolutionary studies. In 2006, a landmark study on relaxed phylogenetics was published in PLOS Biology. This Perspective discusses how relaxed phylogenetics has influenced the field of evolutionary biology by enabling researchers to investigate evolution’s tempo ..read more

by Manoj T. Duraisingh, Marc-Jan Gubbels, Kourosh Zarringhalam Twenty years ago, the first transcriptome of the intraerythrocytic developmental cycle of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum was published in PLOS Biology. Since then, transcriptomics studies have transformed the study of parasite biology. Twenty years ago, the first transcriptome of the intraerythrocytic developmental cycle of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum was published in PLOS Biology. This Perspective looks at how transcriptomics studies have transformed the study of parasite biology in the years following i ..read more

by Madeline R. Scott, Wei Zong, Kyle D. Ketchesin, Marianne L. Seney, George C. Tseng, Bokai Zhu, Colleen A. McClung Twelve-hour (12 h) ultradian rhythms are a well-known phenomenon in coastal marine organisms. While 12 h cycles are observed in human behavior and physiology, no study has measured 12 h rhythms in the human brain. Here, we identify 12 h rhythms in transcripts that either peak at sleep/wake transitions (approximately 9 AM/PM) or static times (approximately 3 PM/AM) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region involved in cognition. Subjects with schizophrenia (SZ) lose 12 h rh ..read more

by Cristina Fonseca, Jonathan Pettitt, Alison Woollard, Adam Rutherford, Wendy Bickmore, Anne Ferguson-Smith, Laurence D. Hurst People differ greatly in their attitudes towards well-evidenced science. What characterises this variation? Here, we consider this issue in the context of genetics and allied sciences. While most prior research has focused on the relationship between attitude to science and what people know about it, recent evidence suggests that individuals with strongly negative attitudes towards specific genetic technologies (genetic modification (GM) technology and vaccines) commo ..read more

by Kirsty E. Graham, Catherine Hobaiter In the comparative study of human and nonhuman communication, ape gesturing provided the first demonstrations of flexible, intentional communication outside human language. Rich repertoires of these gestures have been described in all ape species, bar one: us. Given that the majority of great ape gestural signals are shared, and their form appears biologically inherited, this creates a conundrum: Where did the ape gestures go in human communication? Here, we test human recognition and understanding of 10 of the most frequently used ape gestures. We crowd ..read more

by Kelly D. Cobey, Stefanie Haustein, Jamie Brehaut, Ulrich Dirnagl, Delwen L. Franzen, Lars G. Hemkens, Justin Presseau, Nico Riedel, Daniel Strech, Juan Pablo Alperin, Rodrigo Costas, Emily S. Sena, Thed van Leeuwen, Clare L. Ardern, Isabel O. L. Bacellar, Nancy Camack, Marcos Britto Correa, Roberto Buccione, Maximiliano Sergio Cenci, Dean A. Fergusson, Cassandra Gould van Praag, Michael M. Hoffman, Renata Moraes Bielemann, Ugo Moschini, Mauro Paschetta, Valentina Pasquale, Valeria E. Rac, Dylan Roskams-Edris, Hermann M. Schatzl, Jo Anne Stratton, David Moher The state of open science needs ..read more