Blog in 2004

Kerry blasts Bush over stem cells; Bush slams Kerry on his plans for nuclear waste. The presidential race is a fierce one, and news@nature.com's US reporters are watching events unfold.

Thousands of neuroscientists are converging on San Diego this week to trade insights on what makes the brain tick, how to find out, and how to make it better. Jim Giles reports back from the Society for Neuroscience's 34th annual meeting, where organizers are expecting some 36,000 attendees.

Doctors are testing the boundaries of medicine in order to help more people have babies. Helen Pearson explores the fertile ground at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine meeting in Philadelphia.

Organised by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Space 2004 brings together about 1000 scientists, engineers, military top brass and NASA bigwigs to discuss how to go further, faster and more frequently into space. While grounded in San Diego, California, the delegates roam the heavens from the dark side of the Moon to Europa's icy oceans. Between 29 September and 31 September, Mark Peplow sends back postcards from the edge of space.

Do clinical trials actually benefit the volunteers who take part? Is scientific research used as a tool by political spin doctors? And just how impossibly glamorous is the life of a science journalist? All of these questions and more will be posed at the BA Festival of Science, an annual fixture in the British scientific calendar that features exhibitions, lectures and public debates, and aims to engage the public with science. In the week of 6 September, Michael Hopkin brings you updates on the biggest talking-points from Exeter, UK.

The biennial international AIDS conference is a scientific gathering, a chance for politicians to network and an activists? rally all rolled into one. This year, 15,000 people from 160 countries have headed to Bangkok, Thailand, from 11 July to 16 July to discuss the scientific, economic, political and social dimensions of the global AIDS epidemic. Erika Check brings you daily conference news, plus gossip and behind-the-scenes coverage.