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As the number of academic biologists with ties to business increases, the pool of independent scientists for service on advisory boards and peer review panels is dwindling. Will it eventually disappear?
On the evidence of Nature's recent conference in Tokyo, technologies at the nanometre scale are now within reach. But how are they to be realized, and what form will they take?
The excitement of a rapidly advancing research field may be swamped by the confusion generated by the competition of researchers (and journals) to be the first in print.
