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In an attempt to reverse a declining interest in scientific careers and to remind the public that their work is interesting, German researchers have succeeded in enhancing the accessibility of physics. Others should benefit from their example.
The British government has proposed to Parliament that it should formally approve research on 'therapeutic cloning' involving the use of embryo stem cells.
US clinical researchers and their research institutions have been warned to improve the management of financial conflicts of interest or face strict federal regulation.
A proposal by the US federal government that all research staff should be required to take courses in the responsible conduct of research has met with a mixed reaction.
The Icelandic Medical Association has failed to reach agreement with the Reykjavik-based genomics company deCODE Genetics over whether patients’ health records should be automatically included in Iceland’s new national health sector database.
Features on the surface the near-Earth asteroid Eros have been officially given names of famous lovers in myth and literature, such as Orpheus and Eurydice, Don Juan, Cupid, and Lolita.
Progress in neuroscience might be faster if researchers shared their results in a network of databases. But the technical challenges are huge, and reaching a consensus on what to archive won't be easy, says Marina Chicurel.
Communication between nerve cells is what makes our brains work. Several new studies offer us a close-up view of the chemical signals controlling these cellular conversations.
Noble gases are the least reactive elements. Chemists have created the first neutral compound containing the noble gas argon, leaving only two stable elements in the periodic table — helium and neon — for which no neutral compound exists.
Motor proteins always move in one direction, but what determines this directionality? Studies of mutant, bidirectional motors with single mutations in their head or neck domains are providing clues to the answer.
In the fractional quantum Hall effect, seen when a two-dimensional conductor is placed in a strong magnetic field at low temperatures, electrons can bind to magnetic vortices to form ‘composite fermions’. Under certain conditions these strange particles can pair up to form a composite fermion ‘superconductor’.
During development, growing neurons often follow gradients of secreted guidance cues to reach their destination. It now seems that at least one secreted cue — the Netrin protein — can also provide guidance information by being trapped in a specific part of the central nervous system.
Daedalus is creating a fine powder whose particles are tense with locked-in stress. Fired by a sudden shock, a weak version of Stressed Powder would be a splendid abrasive.
