Editorials in 2004

Nature hereby offers its readers some New Year's resolutions.

A group of just nine climate scientists is trying to change the media coverage of their discipline. Thanks to an ongoing revolution in electronic news, they might just succeed.

Those who are publicly funded to regulate harvesting of the oceans should stop barring the public from their discussions.

A plan to reform appropriations committees in the US Congress — and create one devoted to science — is unlikely to come to fruition. Which is just as well.

The voices of religion are more prominent and influential than they have been for many decades. Researchers, religious and otherwise, need to come to terms with this, while noting that some dogma is not backed by all theologians.

Researchers should beware of ’public relations‘ screens that are anything but helpful to science communication.

Participants in an international forum last month were appropriately fired up about the opportunities for the poorest countries that are provided by information technologies. The attitudes of governments can make all the difference.

Nuclear proliferation remains a potent threat — and scientists' active engagement is essential if it is to be effectively addressed.

On the Internet, 2004 promises to be a vintage year for searching.

Big conferences are good for science. But because many researchers fly in, these events are also bad for the environment. What can be done to redress the balance?

With the right safeguards, a national institute could give a much-needed boost to agricultural research in the United States.

The Kyoto Protocol is just a small first step in restricting man's influence on climate. If we can't prevent fires in Indonesia, such international efforts to limit the effects of climate change could be in vain.

California's citizens have changed the landscape of a key area of biology — with intriguing implications for everyone else.

The research of an environmental regulator is unlikely to win public trust if it relies on money from industrial lobby groups.

There is no place for ageism in reproductive medicine.

The shortages of flu vaccine in the United States this autumn have laid bare some troubling weaknesses in the nation's public-health system.

The message from researchers about the state of European fish stocks is consistent, but its delivery could be improved.

Should scientists let the public help them decide how government research funds are spent? Yes they should, because the consequences are to be welcomed, not feared.

Voters in California will decide next month on an initiative that would assign $3 billion to research on human embryonic stem cells. But the proposal is less of an unalloyed blessing than it seems.

How to counter declining rigour in US university courses.