Editor's Summary

18 December 2008

A celebration of 2008

Nature Newsmaker of the Year is CERN's Lyn Evans, the project director for the Large Hadron Collider. His year has seen a remarkable high, the much-heralded start-up of the LHC. And a notable low, when it broke down expensively, following a helium leak. Geoff Brumfiel profiles Evans and looks to the future of the new collider, which is to form the cornerstone of CERN's particle physics research for the next two decades. In Research Highlights, Nature editors pick some of the outstanding papers of the year that we didn't publish and in the extended Contents pages we select some of our favourites from Nature. Other year-end content in this double issue includes a selection of the most eye-catching images of the year, and a round-up of some of the medal- and prize-winners of 2008. See http://www.nature.com/news/specials/2008/index.html for the year-end content, including videos and podcast highlights.

Editorial: Machine-makers matter

Nature is pleased to name Lyn Evans, the project manager of the Large Hadron Collider, as its 2008 newsmaker of the year.

doi:10.1038/456837a

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Research Highlights: A healthier haul

As an end of the year round-up we asked Nature's editors to nominate their favourite papers published elsewhere this year. For a pick of favourites from Nature itself, see page xii.

doi:10.1038/456840a

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News Feature: Newsmaker of the year: The machine maker

He did more than anyone to build the Large Hadron Collider. This year he saw it finished - and then break down. Geoff Brumfiel profiles the LHC's project leader, Nature's newsmaker of the year.

doi:10.1038/456862a

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News Feature: 2008 Gallery: Images of the year

This gallery showcases some of the year's most eye-catching science, from a close encounter with squid suckers that look like a carnivorous cartoon choir to mathematical forms given shape in purple yarn. It also recalls some of the biggest science news stories: the staggering devastation wrought by Hurricane Ike; a Nobel prize for putting a glowing protein to work; and the ongoing robotic exploration of Mars.

doi:10.1038/456854a

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News Feature: News 2008: Prizewinners of the year

Medals, cash and fame rained down on the heads of prominent scientists in 2008. Ashley Yeager rounds up some of them.

doi:10.1038/456860a

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