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As scientists and others worldwide celebrate the 50th anniversary of a profound discovery, one of the discoverers persists with another challenging quest that, while still a work in progress, also deserves celebration.
As oil-spill specialists continue to tackle the Prestige slick, they are drawing on knowledge from decades of clean-up operations. John Whitfield reports from Spain's Galician coast.
Italy's national science academy is celebrating its 400th anniversary, in part by cataloguing its wealth of intellectual treasures. But can it reinvent itself as a modern, politically relevant body? Alison Abbott reports.
Measurements over a range of latitudes support a theory relating ocean turbulence to internal waves. The upshot should be easier mapping of ocean mixing, and eventually better climate models.
The severity of salmonella infections depends in part on how effectively the invaders are destroyed. Incisive experiments now show that host defence in the intestine centres on the aptly named defensins.
A refined analysis of a group of meteorites has resolved controversy over the likely structure of their parent asteroid. A layered structure is revealed, rather like an onion, whose outer regions cooled fastest.
Cells of the slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum can move in a kind of close-order drill. New evidence suggests that they do this by secreting a chemical attractant specifically from their rear, luring the cells that follow.
American coots distinguish their own eggs from the eggs that other female coots lay in the same nest. They use a variety of tactics to minimize the adverse reproductive effects of the parasitic behaviour.
Why are new elements difficult to make? Fusion of two nuclei to produce heavy elements seems to be hindered by a competing process of 'quasi-fission'. New work builds a more complete picture.
