Column in 2008

Barack Obama's transition team is hitting the ground running, and its speed and openness are winning praise, as David Goldston reports.

Attempts to probe the Universe for advanced civilizations may be unscientific, says Philip Ball, but that shouldn't stop us.

Oversimplifying the effect of the space race on US science funding could lead scientists down the wrong path, says David Goldston.

Researchers should keep a cool head about science under Obama, David Goldston argues.

Ignoring decades of sophisticated economic theory spells trouble for us all, argues Philip Ball.

Seeking out the subtle effects of carbon dioxide can lead to some bizarre conclusions, says Philip Ball.

The fight to buy ImClone highlights the value of new cancer drugs — especially if they're difficult to copy.

Concerns about the next president's science adviser miss the real issues, says David Goldston.

Collecting and releasing environmental data have stirred up controversy in Washington, says David Goldston, and will continue to do so.

In committees, work expands to fill the time available while growth brings inefficiency. It's worth trying to figure out why, says Philip Ball.

Before we ask whether scientific misconduct is dealt with harshly enough, says Philip Ball, we need to be clear about what punishment is meant to achieve.

An impasse over the budget and the impending presidential election mean that US science spending will likely be frozen for months, David Goldston reports.

Religion arose to protect us from disease, US researchers claim. Philip Ball unpicks the idea.

Online access to scientific journals can be a mixed blessing, as Philip Ball finds out.

Scientists and the media have a notoriously difficult relationship, but maybe they get on better than we think, says Philip Ball.

The physics that the Large Hadron Collider will explore has tentative philosophical foundations. But that's a good thing, says Philip Ball.

Scientists need a carefully crafted strategy to catch the attention of policy-makers. David Goldston explains.

A new theory suggests a natural basis for our preference for musical consonance. But does such a preference exist at all, wonders Philip Ball.

Near-term and long-term research are vying for attention. David Goldston says that a fuller congressional debate is needed.

The tendency of 'uneducated' people to compress the number scale for big numbers is actually an admirable way of measuring the world, says Philip Ball.