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This article explores the history of bioarchaeology from the beginning of the twentieth century, proxied by representation in publications as reported annually by the editors-in-chief of the American Journal of Physical/Biological Anthropology. Embedded within this history is the career trajectory of Jane E. Buikstra, who coined the term in relationship to the study of archaeologically recovered human remains in 1976. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 60 years, particle physics has seen the maturation of its Standard Model and an enormous change in the character of the experiments that have defined it. I have had the good fortune to participate in and help shape this evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human interest in the possibility of other worlds in the Universe has existed for over two millennia. In recent centuries, this question has been translated into the following terms: Are there planetary systems linked to stars other than the Sun? Developments in astronomical instrumentation have transformed this philosophical dream into a new, vibrant chapter in astronomy. This article describes my journey that started over 40 years ago with the exploration of the dynamics of our Galaxy, that brought astonishing scientific progress to which my collaborators and I have contributed, and eventually led to the amazing discovery of the plurality of worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I started my journey as a nutrition scholar in 1974 when I began PhD studies at Cornell University. My journey has been rich with opportunity. I engaged in research on diet-related risks for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer, partly motivated by my strong commitment to addressing health disparities affecting Black Americans. Obesity became my major focus and would eventually involve both US and global lenses. This focus was also linked to other dietary intake issues and health disparities and drew on knowledge I had gained in my prior study and practice of social work. I positioned myself as a bridge builder across nutrition, epidemiology, and public health, advocating for certain new ways of thinking and acting in these spheres and in the academy itself. Life skills honed during my formative years living within racially segregated contexts have been critical to any successes I have achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing a career retrospective for this prestigious series is a huge challenge. Is my story really of that much interest? One thing that is different about my life in science is the heavy influence of the turmoil of the past century. Born in the US, raised in East Germany, and returning to the US relatively late in life, I experienced research under both suboptimal and privileged conditions. My scientific story, like the political winds that blew me from one continent to the next, involved shifts into different fields. For advice to young scientists, I would suggest: Don't be afraid to start something new, it pays to be persistent, and science is a passion. In addition to telling my own story, this article also provides the opportunity to express my gratitude to my trainees and colleagues and to convey my conviction that we have the best job on earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serendipity, curiosity, and lived experience shaped my career as a social demographer and my interests in social policy. I transitioned from the humanities to sociology and demography as a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, where I discovered my affinity for quantitative research. My interest in Latin American demography gave way to domestic concerns as new opportunities arose at each of the three institutions where I have had the privilege to work—the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Chicago, and Princeton University. That all three institutions hosted vibrant demography and policy programs facilitated my research about the Hispanic population, family structure, urban poverty, college access, and myriad aspects of socioeconomic inequality and immigrant integration. Superb colleagues and talented graduate student collaborators deserve major credit for my career accomplishments. I attribute numerous opportunities to serve on philanthropic and corporate boards to the strength of weak ties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trying to address a series of large questions—e.g., when peasants rebel, clandestine forms of resistance, state "imagination," and the origin of the very first agrarian states—led me to abandon much of the standard political science "tool kit." This is an account of that intellectual journey. [James C. Scott died on July 19, 2024, just days before this short intellectual biography went live. Scott was an intellectual giant, an eloquent writer, and an inspiration to multiple generations of students and scholars. The Annual Review of Political Science is pleased to be the publisher of his latest, perhaps last, publication. His oral history is available here.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Readers will be led down a random path from continental dynamics to paleoclimate. A key to understanding continental dynamics is recognizing that differences in gravitational potential energy per unit area between high and low terrain govern much of large-scale continental deformation. Removal of mantle lithosphere, not just crustal thickening, plays a crucial, but difficult-to-test, role in changes in surface elevation. Although measuring past surface heights remains a challenge, indications of such processes suggest that surface uplift associated with such removal can affect relative plate motion. Climate change, from a warmer to cooler climate, and associated changes in erosion and sedimentation introduce further complications to determining past elevations. The phenomena that led to such cooling include a number of possibilities, but I favor the emergence of islands in the Maritime continent, which transformed the Pacific Ocean from one with a warm eastern tropical Pacific, as during El Niño events, to the present-day La Niña–like background state. Teleconnections from the eastern tropical Pacific to Canada affect the duration of summers and the potential of high-latitude ice to accumulate. Lateral gradients in gravitational potential energy per unit area (GPE), a force per unit length, govern large-scale continental dynamics. Removal of mantle lithosphere and thickening of crust raise GPE; knowledge of mean surface elevations provides a test of these processes. Climate change from a warmer to cooler climate and from one with less to more erosion can give the false impression of elevation change. Emergence of Indonesian islands, more rain over them, a stronger Walker Circulation, and cooler eastern Pacific may have led to ice ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I have spent more than the last 40 years at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), studying T cell receptor (TCR) signaling. I was blessed with supportive mentors, an exceptionally talented group of trainees, and wonderful collaborators and colleagues during my journey who have enabled me to make significant contributions to our understanding of how the TCR initiates signaling. TCR signaling events contribute to T cell development as well as to mature T cell activation and differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attosecond science requires a substantial rethinking of how to make measurements on very short timescales; how to acquire the necessary equipment, technology, and personnel; and how to build a set of laboratories for such experiments. This entails a rejuvenation of the author in many respects, in the laboratory itself, with regard to students and postdocs, and in generating funding for research. It also brings up questions of what it means to do attosecond science, and the discovery of the power of X-ray spectroscopy itself, which complements the short timescales addressed. The lessons learned, expressed in the meanderings of this autobiographical article, may be of benefit to others who try to reinvent themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I am deeply honored to be invited to write this scientific autobiography. As a physician-scientist, pediatrician, molecular biologist, and geneticist, I have authored/coauthored more than 600 publications in the fields of clinical medicine, biochemistry, biophysics, pharmacology, drug metabolism, toxicology, molecular biology, cancer, standardized gene nomenclature, developmental toxicology and teratogenesis, mouse genetics, human genetics, and evolutionary genomics. Looking back, I think my career can be divided into four distinct research areas, which I summarize mostly chronologically in this article: (a) discovery and characterization of the AHR/CYP1 axis, (b) pharmacogenomics and genetic prediction of response to drugs and other environmental toxicants, (c) standardized drug-metabolizing gene nomenclature based on evolutionary divergence, and (d) discovery and characterization of the SLC39A8 gene encoding the ZIP8 metal cation influx transporter. Collectively, all four topics embrace gene-environment interactions, hence the title of my autobiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]