Biomaterials

Vol. 462, No. 7272 (26 November 2009)

Materials have only recently been designed to impart specific biological functions. As biologists and materials scientists work closely together, the interdisciplinary field of biomaterials is generating substances that can direct stem-cell fate, modulate immune responses and allow extremely sensitive diagnostic assays. New materials are also being creating by mimicking the clever solutions that nature has evolved.

Neurotechniques

Vol. 461, No. 7266 (15 October 2009)

New techniques are markedly altering the landscape of experimental neuroscience and redefining the questions that can be asked. Methods such as gene targeting, functional imaging, optogenetic tools and precise anatomical tracing are yielding insight into a diverse range of topics and providing information that is complementary to that obtained by more conventional methods, such as electrophysiology.

Neglected diseases

Vol. 449, No. 7159 (12 September 2007)

Produced with support from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Foundation for the NIH, TDR, Burroughs Wellcome Fund and MRC for Global Health

Tropical diseases affect more than one billion people, yet there are few effective treatments. And despite much research activity, scientific innovations with therapeutic potential are not making it out of the laboratory. The articles in this Outlook examine what can be done to stimulate the development of effective medicines and deliver them to the people who need them most.

India

Vol. 436, No. 7050 (28 July 2005)

Produced with support from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Metahelix, Avesthagen and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

India is changing: children are being immunized with affordable vaccines produced by India's own biotechnology industry and exported to poorer countries. In this Outlook, Nature examines the problems, like disease, poverty, and bureaucracy, and the opportunities that could make India a world player on the scientific and technological stage.

HIV/AIDS collection

Supported by Merck Sharp & Dohme and GILEAD

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) continues to be a major health problem. The development of an effective vaccine and new drugs to treat established disease remains an urgent need. This special collection presents a selection of papers published in Nature highlighting the progress that has been made towards conquering this enormous challenge over the past couple of years.

Energy

Supported by Total

The need for abundant energy sources that do not rely on fossil fuels is one of the great technological challenges of the twenty-first century — fundamental to further economic development and some measure of climate stability. This collection of feature articles from Nature looks at the technologies and science base needed to meet the challenge of clean energy on a global scale, taking in everything from artificial photosynthesis to hybrid cars, and from nuclear power to biofuel shrubs.

Neural circuits

Vol. 461, No. 7267 pp1149-1154 (22 October 2009)

After a long lull, powerful new technologies are putting the charting of brain circuitry back on neuroscientists' agenda. Michael Eisenstein explores the challenge of mapping the mammalian mind.

Systems biology

Vol. 460, No. 7253 pp415-420 (16 July 2009)

Researchers have identified thousands of macromolecular interactions within cells. But, as Nathan Blow finds out, joining them up in networks and figuring out how they work still poses a big challenge.