Editorials in 2005

‘Hard’ scientists should stop looking down their noses at social scientists, and instead share methods that could help them address pressing societal problems.

Negotiations over a sensitive scientific publication that could be misused by bioterrorists highlight trouble ahead unless appropriate guidelines are developed.

The International Whaling Commission may be messy, but it's the only game in town.

Conservationists must pay attention to the needs of local human, as well as animal, populations.

These days, it takes a brave laboratory to hitch its future to the construction of a brand-new particle accelerator — but Fermilab has elected to do just that.

More should be done to draw people with disabilities into scientific careers.

Better knowledge of the carbon cycle could provide a basis for future climate-change agreements.

A vote by the US House of Representatives to ease restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research marks an important turning point — whether President Bush vetoes the change or not.

How not to promote your latest research findings in the media.

US hostility towards Syria is undermining the stability of an important seed bank for dry areas.

Nature and its new sibling Nature Chemical Biology reflect an important multidisciplinary trend.

Referenda next week could derail the European project — with negative consequences for science.

This issue's focus on avian flu highlights progress and incoherence in the world's response to a potential human pandemic. But the threat is enormous, and some priorities are clear enough.

Despite the hype, there's no sign that the Congress will produce an energy bill worthy of the formidable energy-policy challenges faced by the United States.

Plagiarism allegations should serve as reminders that universities cannot police misconduct on their own.

Scientific excellence can re-emerge in Iran, unless there is political upheaval or further sanctions.

You have one more month to submit proposals for ESOF2006, a fledgling but important forum for European science.

Britain's research base is flourishing, and Tony Blair's last two governments can take much of the credit for it. But his third needs to focus on the troubled state of the universities.

The study of functioning groups of molecules is an important frontier of biology at reductionist and holistic levels. Central to the long-term goals of scientific research, it brings its own challenges of infrastructure and evaluation.

The US space agency needs an injection of rationality.