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The scientific potential of China is great. Recent initiatives reflect the government's justified ambition for research. They also highlight unjustified secrecy and misguided policy agendas.
After helping to sequence the human genome, Chinese scientists are debating how best to continue the push towards becoming a world power in biology. David Cyranoski reports.
In choosing an outspoken former government science adviser as its president, the Royal Society has departed from tradition. Peter Aldhous spoke to Robert May about his plans for Britain's national scientific academy.
An overlooked compound has a surprise in store for physicists. It becomes superconducting at a much higher temperature than any other stable metallic compound.
In breast-cancer patients, secondary tumours often form in the lungs and bone marrow, for example, but rarely in the kidneys. The explanation for this bias involves soluble attractant molecules called chemokines.
Much of Jupiter's moon Ganymede is covered in comparatively young ice. Images from spacecraft are providing clues about whether this resurfacing occurred primarily through tectonic or volcanic events.
The most accurate measurement yet of the way an elementary particle wobbles — precesses — in a magnetic field is getting physicists excited. If it is right, we may be on the threshold of a new era of particle discoveries.
The RNA-processing enzyme MRP contains an RNA component that is essential for its activity. Unexpectedly, it seems that mutations in the gene encoding this RNA cause a multifaceted human disease.
Physicists are always looking for new ways to increase the capacity of hard disks and data tapes. One method involves dicing magnetic media into little bits.
Pastes are not the simple materials they appear to be. It seems they have a 'memory': after a force has been applied, they recover and move back in the opposite direction.
Enzymes called caspases that start the process of programmed cell death can be dangerous if activated at the wrong time. A feat of self-restraint keeps one such caspase under control.
