{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.026473629782833505, 'fraction_numerical': 0.013857290589451914, 'mean_word_length': 5.430851063829787, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Announcing the 2020 Journal of Experimental Biology Outstanding Paper Prize shortlist and winner

With the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to rage, labs closed and field seasons cancelled, many early-career researchers need the community’s support more than ever. Journal of Experimental Biology has a history of taking its responsibilities toward this key group of scientists seriously. Every year since the JEB Outstanding Paper Prize was launched in 2004, in memory of the late Bob Boutilier (JEB Editor-in-Chief 1994–2003), the journal has acknowledged the seminal contributions of young scientists at the beginning of their careers. ‘The Editors take great delight in recognising the exceptional research that is being conducted by early-career researchers’, says current Editor-in-Chief Craig Franklin, adding, ‘We feel it is important to showcase, share and acknowledge the work of the next generation of experimental biologists’. The Editors are now pleased to announce the 12 papers that have been nominated for the 2020 award. Reflecting on his own shortlist nomination, Franklin recalls Joshua Hall and Daniel Warner’s (Auburn University, USA) thought-provoking investigation comparing the physiological impacts of eight different temperature simulations, ranging from a single temperature to complex reconstructions of daily temperature variations, on the development of brown anole (Anolis sagrei) embryos in the lab ( jeb231902). Publishing their discovery that the hatchlings and young lizards that developed in the most realistic scenario had the best chances of survival, Franklin was impressed by the duo’s demonstration of the ‘importance of “playing-back” natural environmental conditions when examining thermal developmental plasticity in reptiles’. Deputy Editor-in-Chief Pat Wright’s nomination also considered early life stage physiology, but this time in sea urchin larvae ( jeb222844). ‘Meike Stumpp and colleagues outlined a clear hypothesis and designed a series of very nice experiments’, Wright says. Testing whether the larvae’s extremely alkaline midgut protects them from bacterial infection, the team from ChristianAlbrechts University of Kiel, Germany, and Academia Sinica, Taiwan, discovered that the pH of the midgut began fluctuating between 8.8 and 9.25 when the larvae were at risk of infection. ‘The authors ... provided strong evidence for the role of the alkaline gut in inhibiting pathogen infections’, says Wright. While continually varying aquatic environments challenge species that reside in water, annual killifish embryos suffer the most extreme environmental disruption when the ephemeral ponds in which they develop dry out. Yet, the extraordinary embryos withstand dehydration and anoxia for months. Working with Jason Podrabsky at Portland State University, USA, Danial Zajic found that the inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an essential component of the embryo’s anoxia-tolerance strategy ( jeb229716). Trish Schulte, the Editor who oversaw peer review of the paper, praises the research. ‘Unlike many studies of biochemical mechanisms in non-model organisms that rely on correlative data, this study directly manipulated the levels of GABA to test the functional significance of this mechanism’, she says. Continuing the aquatic theme, Angelina Dichiera and Andrew Esbaugh at The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute, USA, published their shortlisted paper in November on the role of carbonic anhydrase in red blood cell oxygen delivery in a game fish, red drum ( jeb232991). ‘The authors developed a clever experimental approach that provided new and important data on the role of carbonic anhydrase in oxygen delivery to tissues such as the retina and swimbladder’, says Editor Katie Gilmour. Explaining that the enzyme acidifies red blood cells to enhance O2 unloading at tissues that require surplus oxygen, she adds that the study provides insight into the long-standing question of why carbonic anhydrase appears to be present in red blood cells at higher levels than is required simply for CO2 excretion. Julian Dow’s short-listed nomination, by Hamish Charlton and David Merritt from The University of Queensland, Australia, also investigated a physiological role for CO2, this time in the eerie glow produced by the Malpighian tubules of Arachnocampa larvae in dank rainforest caves ( jeb225151). Knowing that the gas was thought to deactivate the off switch that was believed to suppress bioluminescence by day, thereby allowing the larvae to glow at night, the duo discovered instead that CO2 directly triggers Malpighian tubule light production. Listing the key components of the investigation, from Malpighian tubules to the discovery of a Adam Hardy, winner of the 2020 Journal of Experimental Biology Outstanding Paper Prize.