Opinion in 1999

Principles of merit need to be spelt out in distinguishing valuable knowledge from myth.

Republican senators will bring credit on their office if they consider the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on its technical merits, and vote for its immediate ratification.

Last week's nuclear accident in Japan is a major blow to the nuclear power industry. But it also reflects broader problems in that country's management of technology.

Biologists and others trying to make sense of the scientific literature have a hard enough time keeping up with new discoveries. Inadequate attention to nomenclature is only making the task worse.

NASA's policy of favouring smaller missions deserves more political support.

A survey has revealed that many Japanese researchers are disconnected from the outside world. Their institutions can help.

Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is as important as controlling emissions. Basic and applied research need to be pursued in the face of political obstacles.

Sudden and unexpected cost overruns at the US National Ignition Facility have once again called into question the ability of the Department of Energy to build major scientific facilities on time and on budget.

The French government must reveal the calculations behind its decision to drop plans for its own synchrotron.

This week, Nature launches an international web debate on the factors that lead to the scarcity of women in research. Tackling discrimination is a high priority.

Powerful new leadership at France's troubled Natural History Museum should benefit organismal biology.

Attempts to replicate the recent success of US technology transfer need to focus on the toughest elements of the problem: the availability of venture capital and the structure of the university system.

This issue includes some enhancements to Nature's subliminal impact.

Shifts in this year's college rankings from US News & World Report ttell us a little about quality and a lot about the essentially arbitrary nature of the exercise.

A heap of public money may be misdirected unless the developers of a new science centre see sense.

Scientists and science teachers can draw useful lessons from the Kansas Board of Education's efforts to expel Charles Darwin from the state's schools.

Britain is right to reject shrouding field trials of genetically modified crops in secrecy.

French researchers, angry and upset over last week's synchrotron decision, deserve a full explanation.

Appropriations bills drawn up this summer suggest that Republicans in the House of Representatives have been paying little more than lip-service to the importance of a balanced science budget.

Evidence is emerging that carbon emissions may have started to fall, in advance of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. If so, containing global warming may turn out to be less painful than has sometimes been supposed.