Column in 2006

Handing out experimental drugs to desperate patients is not a good idea, says Apoorva Mandavilli.

The world has been offered a rare chance to cut the risk of HIV, if only circumcision can be offered widely and safely.

Richard Doll's links with industry are disconcerting but hardly scandalous. And they don't make him a villain, says Philip Ball.

New York is cutting trans-fats from restaurant menus to cut down on heart disease — what a good idea.

The death of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko has highlighted how long it can take to diagnose a poison. Nicola Jones asks how hard can it be?

As scientists debate the risks of nanotech, Philip Ball warns that the major impacts of emerging technologies have rarely been spotted in advance.

It's about time that this country hard-hit by AIDS promised help for the afflicted, says Apoorva Mandavilli.

A costing for a giant sunshade in space shows that there are probably better ways to spend the money.

Dawkins's attempt to test the existence of God is as silly as using logic to tear down Santa Claus in the eyes of a child, says Henry Gee.

We need to look seriously at nanoparticle risks, not invent a nanohazard sign to stick on everything.

By confronting ExxonMobil, the Royal Society is not being a censor of science but an advocate for it.

The space agency's visit to China is overdue — the rest of the world went there long ago.

Claims of 'neutralizing' radioactivity grab headlines and have even piqued the interest of Madonna. Phil Ball explains, to her and us, whether any of it will solve our problems with nuclear waste.

NASA's grand ambitions aren't its own, and are at the expense of science

Financial monitoring has borrowed a few ideas from science, but they may be the wrong ones, argues Philip Ball.

It is a crime against humanity when professional communicators manage to get language so horribly muddled, says Henry Gee.

How can we persuade teenagers to stick with science? Maybe we should just ban them from science fairs, says Henry Gee.