July 2021

Behind the scenes in Frederick National Laboratory’s Scientific Publications, Graphics & Media department, illustrator Joe Meyer is making scientists’ cover dreams come true. While he’s professionally worked on illustrations for over two decades, about a third of that time focused on scientific images, Meyer has also worked on around 35 cover image designs over the last several years.

More than 20 of those designs have been selected as cover images. Meyer’s cover designs have been featured in various publications, including Cell Chemical Biology, Chemical Science, and Nature Chemical Biology.

Overcoming obstacles that caused the cancellation of the Student Science Jeopardy! Tournament last summer, Scientific Library staff used a virtual platform to hold the 14th annual tournament earlier this month.

At first, Meredith Yeager, Ph.D., thought there was a mistake in the data. She was examining the association between exposure to ionizing radiation after the 1986 Chernobyl power plant disaster and the frequency of exposed Ukrainians later passing radiation-driven genetic mutations to their children. Previous studies suggested that the children’s DNA should have contained multiple such mutations. It didn’t.

The Spring Research Festival came to Fort Detrick this year without its signature massive tent, the home of a sprawling equipment expo with dozens of booths. It came without audiences in auditoriums or gatherings around scientific posters. The community didn’t circulate between buildings for events. On the surface, it may have seemed that the festival didn’t come at all. But after being cancelled last year due to the pandemic, the annual two-day event did indeed return in a virtual format.