News Feature in 2014

From Gradzilla to coffee consumption: the research enterprise quantified for the year to come.

Ten people who mattered this year.

Species are disappearing quickly — but researchers are struggling to assess how bad the problem is.

Scientists have been reprogramming adult cells into embryonic ones for decades — but they are only now getting to grips with the mechanics.

After a 30-year struggle to harness quantum weirdness for computing, physicists finally have their goal in reach.

The United States is banking on decades of abundant natural gas to power its economic resurgence. That may be wishful thinking.

When a handful of authors were caught reviewing their own papers, it exposed weaknesses in modern publishing systems. Editors are trying to plug the holes.

NASA has 35 kilograms of plutonium-238 to power its deep-space missions — but that will not get it very far.

Every year, the US government gives research institutions billions of dollars towards infrastructure and administrative support. A Nature investigation reveals who is benefiting most.

The International Centre for Theoretical Physics was set up to seed science in the developing world; 100,000 researchers later, it is still growing.

Depression causes more disability than any other disorder. A special issue explores how science can help.

Cognitive behavioural therapy is the best-studied form of psychotherapy. But researchers are still struggling to understand why it works.

Research into depression has struggled, while studies of cancer have thrived — but the balance could be shifting.

In the 25 years since the collapse of communism, the countries of central and Eastern Europe have each carved their own identity in science.

Scientists know a lot about the virus that causes Ebola — but there are many puzzles that they have yet to solve.

Nature explores the most-cited research of all time.

In 2004, researchers announced the discovery of Homo floresiensis, a small relative of modern humans that lived as recently as 18,000 years ago. The ‘hobbit’ is now considered the most important hominin fossil in a generation. Here, the scientists behind the find tell its story.

Bioethicists are setting up consultancies for research — but some scientists question whether they are needed.

Universities must evolve if they are to survive. A special issue of Nature examines the many ways to build a modern campus.