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The head of Harvard University leaves much to be desired in terms of tact and demonstrable respect for those who disagree with him. But the university should stick with him, at least for the time being.
The United States has a settled arrangement for distributing its research budget around the country, and the same states have dominated it for decades. But, as Emma Marris discovers in Florida, the have-nots have had enough.
They were highly prized artefacts with inscriptions that dated back to biblical times. The only problem was they were fake. Haim Watzman unearths the authentication work that has rocked Israel's archaeology community.
Studies of cultured cells have revealed how the immune system may use intercellular pores to convey information that is important in initiating antiviral responses and in limiting the spread of infections.
There is no coherent explanation for newly observed salvos of radio waves emanating from a direction near the Galactic Centre. Are they from a new type of stellar object? The search is on for similar radio emitters.
The evolution of specialized cellular powerhouses called hydrogenosomes has long confounded biologists. The discovery that in some cases they have their own genome sheds some much-needed light on the issue.
The chemistry of organic aerosols has been somewhat neglected on the assumption that they are eliminated from the atmosphere mainly by rainfall. Laboratory studies indicate that a rethink is called for.
The global community is committed to reducing the rate of loss of biodiversity, but how can progress be measured? A novel system to tackle the problem may also identify key factors behind the changes.
Gas inside collapsing bubbles can become very hot and, as a result, emit light. It turns out that temperatures of more than 15,000 kelvin can be reached — as hot as the surface of a bright star.
The main enzymes that drive cell division can work on numerous substrates, but how is their specificity ensured? Regulatory subunits show the way, using various tricks to guide enzymes to their targets.