Outlook in 2012

Preventing mosquitoes from transmitting the malaria parasite is a crucial piece of the eradication puzzle.

Signs of emerging drug resistance are turning the hunt for new malaria treatments into a race against the clock.

Even a cure is not preventing deaths from malaria in Uganda. Poor education and limited access to healthcare are among the reasons why.

Despite some outstanding drug-development successes, the mouse version of multiple sclerosis has been worryingly unreliable at screening human treatments.

Population and genetic studies are confirming the link between multiple sclerosis and vitamin D, says Richard Ransohoff.

Most new treatments for multiple sclerosis are for patients with the relapsing–remitting form of the disease. Those with the more advanced, progressive type are being left behind.

Technologies that better reveal the insidious progression of multiple sclerosis could aid the search for treatments.

Researchers have plenty of theories about what might cause multiple sclerosis. But for now, the factor that triggers the disease remains elusive.

More than 100 variations in the genome have been linked to multiple sclerosis. Researchers are now trying to find the overlap with other auto-immune conditions, and understand how environmental factors interact with genes to trigger disease.

A slew of new data suggests that it is time to rethink and reclassify autoimmune disease, says David A. Hafler.

Worms? Stents? Bee stings? Patients with multiple sclerosis who exhaust conventional therapies are turning in desperation to unproven approaches.

Researchers are still a long way from using stem cells to halt the decline caused by multiple sclerosis and to restore patients' health. But they are following some promising trails.

For decades, drugs have barely managed to slow the progression of multiple sclerosis. Therapies are now emerging that may even help to reverse the disease — but are they worth the risk?

Graphene is phenomenally strong, thin, flexible, transparent and conductive — and applications beckon.

Graphene could make an ideal basis for a medical repair kit.

Transparency across the spectrum combined with electronic prowess makes graphene an ideal photonic material.

Exploring graphene's chemical properties reveals a world of potential away from the purely two-dimensional, says Rodney Ruoff.

Flecks of graphene are easy to make. But producing sheets of pristine, electronics-quality material is another matter.