Opinion in 1999

Steps to increase the transparency of the procedures used to judge the safety of genetically modified foods are to be welcomed. The scientific advice on which such judgements are made must reflect the same openness.

The decision to reprimand a leading US medical school for failing adequately to monitor the protection of human research subjects is a salutary action. It also underlines the need to ensure that monitoring is properly funded.

A welcome boost to the refurbishment of Britain's research infrastructure must be supported by other measures.

A newly elected parliament and executive provides opportunities for Scotland not only to imitate the best of Westminster, but also to do better in its handling of Scottish research and public controversies.

Whatever its motivations, a drug company's big gesture towards AIDS should be imitated.

Teething troubles on the US neutron spallation source project at Oak Ridge do not justify congressional threats to freeze funding, and should be viewed against a fundamentally problematic background.

Cell biology is flourishing, in the liveliness of its community and in the breadth and connectivity of the science. Hence today's launch of Nature Cell Biology, complementing Nature's continuing enthusiasm for the subject.

Previous agreements notwithstanding, it makes sense not to destroy a key protective resource.

The soundest possible science must underlie any effort to regulate genetically modified foods. But regulations must also acknowledge uncertainty — and incorporate trust in the judgement of the consumer.

A ban on clinical trials of transplants from primates shows good judgement. Now we need data.

A US company's plans to sequence the rice genome in weeks rather than decades should inspire a more venturesome spirit in the Japanese research community.

Parody can be a powerful weapon — provided it is recognized as such.

Science, the US weapons laboratories, and a hard-working immigrant group are all losers in Washington's game of pinning blame for an alleged security leak at Los Alamos.

The British government should not miss an opportunity to show its support for an innovative scheme from the Wellcome Trust to help take genomics research from the lab to the market.

Greater pan-regional scientific collaboration could raise Latin American science to the next level of excellence.

A proposal to convert some of Japan's best basic research institutes into autonomous agencies is fine in principle but could be disastrous without far more thought about the nature of their activities.

The dangers of doing so are all too vivid in the physics community.

Developments in biomedical research give rise to ethical dilemmas and public controversy around the world. New guidelines reflect the WHO's need to strengthen its role in helping governments and others address the issues.

Out of political mayhem, an opportunity for a visionary.

A famous lecture given in 1959 still resonates. Although time has eroded many of the cultural fissures that it addressed, current debates about biotechnology highlight continuing problems of mutual incomprehension.