Opinion

• Editorials from Nature - The journal's opinions.
• Columns from Nature News - Personal opinions from our columnists.

Editorials and commentary from Nature

• 18 November 2009
  Opinion pieces from the latest issue of Nature. You will need a subscription to Nature (rather than Nature News) to access some of this content.

• Editorials from the latest issue

  • Opinion from Nature's Editor in Chief and the editorial team, as published in the front of the journal each week. Get clear views on matters of importance to the science community. Go to the Nature editorials

    • The entangled bank unravels

      This third special issue in Nature's year-long celebration of Charles Darwin focuses on the dire challenges to Earth's biodiversity — and finds some reason for hope.

      18 November 2009

    • Access denied?

      Information-sharing resources are essential to biologists and deserve international support.

      18 November 2009

    • Containing risk

      The ad-hoc proliferation of high-security biological labs must be controlled, and should be tied in more closely to broader research and public-health goals.

      11 November 2009

Columns

• Our columnists dig their teeth into everything from US politics to global warming on Pluto. Read their personal opinions - and let us know what you think. Click on an author's name to find more of their writing.

• Most recent

  • World view: Experts and democracy - Premium content

    Specialist advice can be invaluable in shaping policy, but, argues Colin Macilwain, democracies need to keep a careful eye on the powers acquired by an unelected elite.

    18 November 2009

  • In which we say goodbye - Premium content

    Our departing columnist David Goldston reflects on some misconceptions about science and politics.

    04 November 2009

  • What toys can tell us - Premium content

    Sometimes all you need to do scientific research is string, sealing wax and a bit of imagination, says Philip Ball.

    05 October 2009

  Most commented

  • Is religion good for your health? - Premium content

    Religion arose to protect us from disease, US researchers claim. Philip Ball unpicks the idea.

    01 August 2008

  • Who says the Internet broadens your horizons? - Premium content

    Online access to scientific journals can be a mixed blessing, as Philip Ball finds out.

    17 July 2008

  • Why we should love logarithms - Premium content

    The tendency of 'uneducated' people to compress the number scale for big numbers is actually an admirable way of measuring the world, says Philip Ball.

    29 May 2008

  We recommend

  • Read some of the classic columns from the archive of Nature News.

    • Climate future - Premium content

      Deciding how to evaluate a cap-and-trade programme raises some thorny questions, says David Goldston.

      03 June 2009

    • When is a pandemic not a pandemic? - Premium content

      Arguments about the pandemic status of swine flu are a distraction from tackling the outbreak, warns Declan Butler.

      21 May 2009

    • How much reason do you want? - Premium content

      The 'war' between science and religion is stuck in a rut. Can we change the record now, asks Philip Ball?

      14 May 2009

  • • More columns