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.
Scientists are rushing to defend a colleague charged with mishandling samples of the plague bacterium. But they must be careful not to send the message that microbiologists are blasé about the need to protect public health.
The early days of genomics were marked by concerns that wide-ranging gene patents would restrict research and medical discovery. So far, proteomics hasn't toiled under the same cloud. But don't get complacent, warns David Cyranoski.
Deep-diving submarines have opened a new window onto the ocean's gelatinous inhabitants. And biologists are discovering that these denizens of the deep have a few surprises in store. Carina Dennis dives in.
Terry L. Root is a senior fellow in the Center for Environmental Science and Policy at the Stanford Institute for International Studies. She is an ecologist who specializes in conservation biology, biogeography and ornithology.
The two Voyager spacecraft are heading beyond the bounds of the Solar System, and Voyager 1 may now have encountered the 'edge' — the termination shock — of the solar wind. But not everyone agrees.
Copulating cockerels can, it seems, tailor their ejaculate to several factors: the degree of male competition, whether they have mated with the female before, and the female's reproductive 'value'.
As electronic devices shrink, the interaction between electrons and the silicon crystal lattice, described in terms of 'quasiparticles', is a central issue. Ultrashort laser pulses can track the birth of such a quasiparticle.
Neurons in the brain release proteins called neurotrophins, which bind to glial cells and unleash a wave of calcium ions inside them. This could be the missing link in a communication circuit between glia and neurons.
Being eaten alive then dumped with the resulting droppings can be all to the good — if you are a palm fruit in the Amazonian tropical forest, that is, and the consumer is a large mammal.
Young, aspiring researchers often have to learn the hard way when it comes to writing a killer grant application. But a range of European initiatives aims to give them a helping hand. Karen Kreeger reports.
