Keeping up with the enormous output of data generated by the world's microbiologists is a full-time job — no scientific field has escaped the information explosion. When this situation is coupled with ongoing advances in publishing technology, which ensure that many articles are publicly available shortly after acceptance, the process of sifting through the morass to identify the key advances is becoming an essential skill.

Of course, there are tools to assist the over-worked microbiologist in this task, and Nature Reviews Microbiology provides one such service. The Highlights section is our current-awareness tool, featuring 'Genome Watch' from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, 'Disease Watch' from the World Health Organization, and snapshots of the best of the microbiological research literature selected by the editors with the aid of a panel of external expert advisors. As timeliness is crucial to the effectiveness of this aspect of the service, we collaborate with other publishers to evaluate papers before they are published. In a further development to this process, we are delighted to announce one such arrangement with the Society for General Microbiology, which has also agreed to make any articles that we highlight from their journals freely available online. The first Highlight to come from this collaboration (on page 356) discusses the discovery of a new global regulator important for Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence.

We will continue to develop the Highlights section to meet the needs of our readers. One issue the editorial team are currently debating is whether we should use the section to discuss the more obvious advances in the premier journals or whether we should highlight the hidden gems that you may have missed — your comments, as always, are very welcome.