Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
While some researchers report progress towards the goal of producing pig organs for human transplantation, others have revealed new causes for worry about the potential consequences.
. The future of efforts at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh to create transgenic pigs as a source of organs for transplant to humans appears to be in doubt.
. 200 former east German researchers in Berlin face unemployment at the end of this year because the city is backing out of an agreement to co-finance a rescue programme
. Many individual scientists who have had reprints of their articles sold without consent could receive an unexpected cash bonus as a result of a $7.25 million settlement to a federal lawsuit.
. Germany's research minister has promised that new legislation on gene patents will specify that criteria for patentability should be given a narrow interpretation.
. The Japanese government has created an hoc expert advisory panel to help it establish common ethical principles for all human genome research in Japan.
. Representatives of six countries have agreed to build a giant ground-based telescope with a collecting area of a million square metres, to be completed in the middle of the next decade.
. The US space agency NASA has announced an unmanned mission to Mars that will cost almost $600 million , roughly double the cost of its previous two missions to the planet.
. Joseph Lieberman, one of the strongest supporters of research in the Congress, has been selected by Vice-president Al Gore as his running mate in this year's presidential elections.
. One of Britain's leading physical chemists is tipped to become the UK government's next chief scientific adviser and head of the Office of Science and Technology
There has been no new treatment for tuberculosis for three decades. But there is now the potential for a radical resurgence of drug development, says Declan Butler, if the political and industrial climate stays fair.
In conventional farming, single varieties of crop plants are grown alone. But mixing varieties may be a better option: several rice strains, planted together on a large scale, are more resistant to a major fungal disease.
A typical artificial nose requires complex pattern-recognition systems to identify odours. A new colorimetric system that produces simple two-dimensional images could replace computer-made decisions with the eyes and brain of a trained operator.
A biochemical pathway called the glyoxylate shunt may be important for the long-term survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis - the bacterium that causes tuberculosis - in humans. These results give clues to where in the body the bacterium hides during 'latent' infection.
The Gaia hypothesis holds that by introducing feedbacks on climate, life on Earth can regulate its environment. Many scientists have been scornful of the idea. But a meeting devoted to exploring the ramifications of Gaia showed that the hypothesis has stimulated much fresh thinking.
Memories are stabilized within particular neuronal circuits by a process that involves the synthesis of new proteins. Now it seems that whenever a previously stabilized memory is recalled, it needs to be restabilized, and that protein synthesis is required here, too.
A new way of converting insulators into superconductors - rather like turning water into wine - involves injecting them with lots of charge carriers. This technique has successfully created superconductors from simple organic crystals.
Both thyroid and breast cells take up iodide, and it seems that the same molecule is responsible. This molecule is expressed in lactating and cancerous breast tissues, a result that may reopen the discussion about the usefulness of iodide transport for detecting or treating breast cancer.
How big were the ice sheets at the height of the last glaciation, around 21,000 years ago? The best estimate yet comes from an analysis of the lower sea levels of the time, and will further understanding of how ice-sheet volume influences climate.
Warehouses squander storage space by needing aisles for access to the goods. So Daedalus is inventing the '15-puzzle warehouse', based on the game in which 15 square tiles are shuffled around on a square tray with one empty space.
In the elemental struggle between pathogenic microbes and the immune system of the host, each strives for a unique advantage and thus each exploits its own unique particularities in pathogenesis and protection. And each presumably selects for the diversity that generally characterizes the wide range of successful host–pathogen interactions.
New frontiers in basic chemistry could drive applied science in many fields. But support for basic research seems to be waning, in both academia and industry. Paul Smaglik dons his lab coat.
Despite the extensive use of antibiotics and vaccination programmes, infectious diseases remain a leading cause of illness worldwide, resulting in more than 13 million deaths each year. These reviews examine how bacteria attack and survive in the host, the mechanisms that the host uses to defend itself, and the therapeutic strategies that can be used to buttress these defences.
