Outlook in 2012

Silicon is more than an incumbent technology competing with graphene — it also has a history researchers should remember.

Trying to shoehorn graphene into a digital circuit isn't working. But there may be another potential path to glory.

Nature Outlook talks to the first director of the MIT's Centre for Graphene Devices and Systems, which was created in July 2011 to foster collaboration among academic, industrial and government groups studying this form of carbon.

A freshwater ecologist at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, Smol studies lake sediments to understand climatic and environmental change. Nature Outlook asks him to share his experience.

As director of outreach experiences at the Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wisconsin, Nirupama Shevde spreads the word about stem cells. Nature Outlook finds out what she has to say.

Nature Outlook talks to Rutgers University environmental scientist Paul Falkowski about the effects of human activity and climate change on communities of life-sustaining oceanic microorganisms.

A Boston University biomedical engineer, Collins reprograms organisms to endow them with novel or improved functions. Nature Outlook asks him how things are evolving.

Barbara Dunn is a programme director in the Division of Cancer Prevention at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). She tells Nature Outlook about the challenges of stopping the disease before it starts.

Is cancer ancient, or is it largely a product of modern times? And can the latest research on prevention and treatment strategies make cancer a disease of the past?

Do tiny floating microorganisms in the ocean's surface waters play a massive role in controlling the global climate?

Stem cells are powerful tools in biology and medicine. What can scientists do with these cells to exploit their incredible potential?

How is life on Earth reacting to climate change?

Scientists are combining biology and engineering to change the world.