The Biologist has been covering the extraordinary and diverse world of the biological sciences since 1953. Featuring interviews with high-profile scientists, news and views on cutting-edge biology, and contributions from the RSB’s network of 17,000 professional and student bioscientists, The Biologist is packed full of features for professionals and non-professionals alike. Alongside striking images from biology research and the natural world, each issue also includes updates from the RSB science policy team and a guide to the best biological museum exhibits around the world.

Recent issues have explored topics as varied as Arctic ecology, DIY gene therapy, organoids, regenerative medicine, plant science, specimen drawing and bio-inspired art. Interviewees have included evolutionary biologist and author Professor Richard Dawkins, Noel Fitzpatrick, aka ‘The Supervet’, and TV paleopathologist Professor Alice Roberts.

Digital subscribers will gain access to four issues a year and nearly 40 back issues dating back to 2012, when The Biologist moved from a journal to its current magazine format.

The print magazine is free for members of the Royal Society of Biology, which offers a range of membership types, more details of which can be found here.

The cover feature of our winter issue explores the icy work of Professor John Fleng Steffensen, who has been studying the mysterious Greenland shark for decades. He believes there might be individuals out there capable of living hundreds of years longer than current estimates. 

 

The issue also looks at what can be done about PFAS, or ‘forever chemicals’, and goes behind the scenes at two of the world’s biggest biobanks. 

 

Plus,  we explore efforts to engineer the microbiome of preterm babies, understand urban soils, and decolonise biosci