Editorials in 2011

Unfounded fears about vaccines are already reaching worrisome proportions. No public figure should stoke them — as US presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann has done.

A simplification of the US patent system is good news for inventors, but could have gone further.

Non-communicable diseases are on the rise. Emerging nations need to take them seriously.

The Obama administration should reject the false dichotomy between environmental protection and the economy.

Europe's shocking statistics on neurological and mental disorders demand a shift in priorities.

Severe storms make the public think of climate change. Scientists must work to evaluate the link.

Scientists around the world should protest efforts by the government of Turkey to erode academic autonomy. And the wider world should note the threat to democracy.

To rediscover its glorious scientific past and build a knowledge-driven economy, Russia must break old habits and loosen state control on research.

Who'd be a scientist? As funding levels fall and competition rises, no one seeking leisure.

Technology to track the path of a raindrop points the way to better environmental awareness.

Conflict poisons both land and sea, and lost natural resources lead to more violence. Ecology is an unlikely objective during wartime, but one that can help to secure peace.

Integrity guidelines are a good start, but they must be clear and appropriately enforced.

The United Kingdom and others must not overlook the potential for nanotechnology to boost regenerative medicine.

Some commercial firms that oversee the ethics and scrutiny of clinical trials have been found wanting. Human volunteers in research deserve better.

The launch of an ecological monitoring network is good news at a difficult time.

China's best young scientists are working abroad. The country is trying to change that — and when it succeeds, the results will be startling.

A legal victory for US stem-cell research will not end the uncertainty over this disputed field.

Zoologists should follow botanists in allowing online-only announcements of new species.

The Heartland Institute's climate conference reveals the motives of global-warming sceptics.

Regulators must look past visceral disgust about human–animal hybrids. Strict but sensible rules are needed for research on hybrid embryos and chimaeric animals that could produce therapies.