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Good policy decisions on science and the environment require sound contributions from official bodies, pressure groups, the media — and scientists themselves.
Lobbyists give an impetus to causes that can offer a significant advantage on Capitol Hill. But how do they go about getting their way? David Goldston examines their role in securing science funding.
As US biotechnology companies seek to expand or relocate their operations abroad, Paris is pitching itself as a scientifically strategic location. Rex Dalton reports.
One half of a physics couple that met online, Jennifer Ouellette seeks some advice from married scientists on how to handle both long-distance and up-close relationships, while juggling career and family. Can love survive?
How often does independent research change laws as well as minds? A lobby group in Delhi is forcing the Indian government into new regulations. Apoorva Mandavilli meets its leader.
By tapping into social cues, individuals in a group may gain access to higher-order computational capacities that mirror the group's responses to its environment.
Species richness is not the same as evolutionary richness. So which is the better measure for setting conservation priorities? The flora of the Cape of South Africa provides a test for that pressing question.
Molecules that detect chemicals are the workhorses of analytical devices, but most recognize only one kind of target. A molecular sensor has now been devised that measures the concentrations of several metal ions.
What a conventional particle accelerator needs kilometres to achieve, a compact 'plasma wakefield' accelerator has just mastered in less than a metre. So is it adieu to the era of the gargantuan mega-accelerator?
Embryos and tumours use the same signalling pathways to direct the formation of blood vessels. Discovery of a new role for the Notch pathway in that process presents a fresh option for cancer treatment.
Hopes of keeping quantum mechanics 'real' have been dashed by new measurements of neutrons' quantum behaviour. Despite what our classical sensibilities require, the world is indeed fundamentally random.
Most breast cancers have their origin in the luminal epithelial cells of the mammary gland. Defining how a master regulator controls the development of this cell lineage could provide important hints about why this should be.
Newly developed ultrathin silicon membranes can filter and separate molecules much more effectively than conventional polymer membranes. Many applications, of economic and medical significance, stand to benefit.
How did humans learn who they are related to, to avoid inbreeding and mate with someone outside their family? This paper proposes that humans use evidence from their environment to compute a 'kinship index' and use it to estimate genetic relatedness to another human.
Simulations show that the progenitors of dark-matter-dominated galaxies were probably gas-dominated dwarf galaxies that became satellites of a larger galaxy earlier than other dwarf spheroidals. A combination of tidal shocks and ram pressure swept away the entire gas content of such progenitors about ten billion years ago. A tiny stellar component embedded in a relatively massive dark halo survived until today.
Use of an electron beam at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) to drive a plasma wakefield accelerator resulted in energy doubling of a small fraction of the injected electrons over a distance of less than a metre. This is an important step toward demonstrating the viability of plasma accelerators for high-energy physics applications.
A report of the development of organic electronic circuits, which require only a single 1.5V battery and last for several years. The main ingredient is the use of a single layer of an insulating organic material. Although the layer is very thin, it leaks only small amount of current, while providing for a large capacitance.
Phylogenetic diversity is decoupled from taxon diversity for the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, a biodiversity hotspot. It turns out that the more species-rich western part of the Cape has lower evolutionary potential than the more neglected eastern part, with important consequences for conservation planning.
The role of translationally controlled tumour protein (TCTP) in Drosophila development using genetics is examined. An interesting connection between TCTP and another signalling pathway, called tuberous sclerosis complex, which controls organ size by modulating cell proliferation and cell size is found. Genetic and biochemical evidence that TCTP is a direct regulator of Rheb, a component of the TSC pathway, and may be a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Rheb is also provided.
Increasing investment in people is raising the Atlanta region's profile — and attracting a stream of internationally acclaimed researchers. Paul Smaglik reports.