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.
Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, can demonstrate his aspirations to statesmanship by using the occasion of the XV International AIDS Conference to free health workers unjustly sentenced to death for infecting patients with HIV.
Scientists find it hard enough to pin down evidence of early life on our own planet. How on Earth do we plan to determine whether life exists elsewhere? John Whitfield finds out.
The seemingly unpredictable ‘boom and bust’ of insect-pest populations will be better understood with the advent of a deceptively simple model combining field and laboratory data with earlier theories.
Combining the imaging power of magnetic resonance and the sensitivity of atomic force microscopy has created a hybrid technique that can resolve single spins beneath the surface of a sample.
In mammals, is the three-dimensional body plan ingrained in the egg at or before fertilization? The answer is ‘maybe, but then again maybe not’. Less invasive techniques might help to resolve matters.
Plants depend on structures called stomata to regulate gas exchange with the air, and their positioning is crucial. A key factor controlling stomatal development and arrangement has now been found.
Observations of the Hanle effect have revealed the existence of small-scale ‘hidden’ magnetic flux on the quiet Sun. The magnetic-energy density of this hidden flux is much larger than previously thought.
How does our rump come to be separated from our head, instead of being right behind our ears? Studies of the elongation of the developing embryo reveal some remarkable underlying mechanisms.
Matching the march of evolution, developmental biology is branching out to encompass a wide variety of disciplines. As a result, recruiters want skills as well as qualifications, says Ricki Lewis.
