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The current US administration is edging towards a policy of developing new types of nuclear weapons. In today's uncertain world, the last thing we need is a renewed arms race among the world's nuclear powers.
In big groups and companies, it's hard to track who knows what. So how can scientists share information and prevent work being duplicated? Philip Ball investigates one solution: knowledge-management software.
Thanks to the availability of its genome sequence, and the promise of new genetically engineered strains, the rat is restoring its reputation as researchers' favourite lab animal. Alison Abbott hails a remarkable rodent.
Publication of the rat genome sequence will not only advance physiological studies in this paragon of laboratory animals, but also greatly enhance the power of comparative research into mammalian genomes.
The history of how Earth's interior evolved, and how it accounts for many aspects of our planet's behaviour, remains largely unwritten. Taking water into account could well help to explain a great deal more.
Beautifully preserved specimens of butterflies from the Caribbean, caught maybe in the act of egg-laying some 20 million years ago, provide welcome grist to the mill of debate about butterfly history.
The principle of the evolutionary cul-de-sac is commonly invoked to explain the apparent lingering existence of once-diverse groups of organisms. Maybe that principle itself has had its day.
Opportunities in bioinformatics once abounded for the self-taught and industrially minded, but employers are now turning towards the formally trained and academics. Myrna Watanabe reports.
