Most recent columns

• Financial planning - Premium content

  An impasse over the budget and the impending presidential election mean that US science spending will likely be frozen for months, David Goldston reports.

  6 August 2008

• Getting it across - Premium content

  Scientists need a carefully crafted strategy to catch the attention of policy-makers. David Goldston explains.

  2 July 2008

• A delicate balance - Premium content

  Near-term and long-term research are vying for attention. David Goldston says that a fuller congressional debate is needed.

  11 June 2008

• Demonstrably wrong - Premium content

  Public-private demonstration projects are a good way to test technology in the field. But the driving force is often more political than scientific, argues David Goldston.

  30 April 2008

• Hazy reasoning behind clean air - Premium content

  Science alone can't determine how regulations are written, argues David Goldston.

  2 April 2008

• The scientist delusion - Premium content

  Religious resistance to science is often exaggerated, but fresh problems may lie ahead, says David Goldston.

  5 March 2008

• A debatable proposition - Premium content

  Having the US presidential candidates face off over science issues could backfire, David Goldston argues.

  6 February 2008

• Shattered illusions - Premium content

  Last-minute cuts to the research budget have left US scientists nervous about future funding. David Goldston looks at what Congress and the president might do next.

  23 January 2008

• Small advances - Premium content

  Most people agree that the environmental and health effects of nanoparticles need a lot more study. David Goldston looks at why so little progress has been made.

  19 December 2007

• Political climate - Premium content

  American legislators are getting started on the first laws to tackle greenhouse-gas emissions. But Congress has a long way to go, says David Goldston.

  14 November 2007