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Planetary scientists and astronomers may fare reasonably well under the US space agency's new budget-conscious chief. But in the long term, can NASA provide the inspiration to excite future generations about these disciplines?
The dengue virus exacts a devastating and growing toll on public health in the tropics, yet remains little studied. Tom Clarke talks to the scientists who are intent on raising dengue's profile.
Many Ukrainian research institutes went to the wall when the Soviet Union collapsed. Quirin Schiermeier finds out how home-grown talent — and home-made equipment — have helped one centre to buck the trend.
Using self-assembly to produce technologically useful photonic devices becomes more feasible with the demonstration of defect engineering in a self-assembled photonic crystal.
As they mature, bone-resorbing cells trigger the production of their own 'off-switch' — the interferon-β protein — to prevent the runaway bone loss that is seen in diseases such as osteoporosis.
These days, investigations of evolutionary events in groups of organisms can be taken well beyond the just-so story. Analysis of how members of the cuckoo family became 'brood parasites' provides a wonderful example.
Policy-makers need short-term climate predictions to develop strategies for coping with climate change over the typical two-decade planning horizon. Two new studies increase our confidence in these predictions.
The diversity of the receptors on our immune cells that recognize 'foreign' material is ensured by combining a set of gene segments to form the final receptor genes. A crucial player in that process has now been found.
Two asteroids beyond Neptune have been found to orbit one another. This binary system in the Kuiper belt shows marked differences from binary objects elsewhere in the Solar System.
Cystic-fibrosis patients often have drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial communities in their lungs. It seems that the bacterium's antibiotic resistance and ability to form communities are turned on together.
Daedalus is developing 'Vacfilm' — a thin film with one-way molecular valves that pump air. The obvious use will be in food wrap, but Daedalus also hopes to revolutionize the refrigerator.
It is seven years since the first bacterial genome was completely sequenced, and more than 60 others have now been determined. What has been the impact of these projects on pure science and public welfare?
