Comment

To reduce consumption and waste we must overcome our squeamishness about repurposing pre-owned possessions, says Bruce Hood.

A new relationship with our goods and materials would save resources and energy and create local jobs, explains Walter R. Stahel.

The country consumes the most resources in the world and produces the most waste — but it also has the most advanced solutions, say John A. Mathews and Hao Tan.

Combining commercial and academic incentives and resources can improve science, argues Aled Edwards.

Arguments about whether process or product should be the focus of regulation are stalling progress, says Jennifer Kuzma.

The citizen-science community has a responsible, proactive attitude that is well suited to gene-editing, argues Todd Kuiken.

To build sustainability and trust, energy and environment research in Japan must become more interdisciplinary and global, say Masahiro Sugiyama and colleagues.

Nicholas Stern calls on scientists, engineers and economists to help policymakers by better modelling the immense risks to future generations, and the potential for action.

Within a decade, women everywhere should have access to quality contraceptive services, argues John Bongaarts.

Finding ways to adapt natural tendencies and nudge collective action is central to the well-being of future generations, say Helga Fehr-Duda and Ernst Fehr.

It is time to crack down on the emissions and destructive development caused by vast container vessels that pollute the air and seas, write Zheng Wan and colleagues.

The viability and environmental risks of removing carbon dioxide from the air must be assessed if we are to achieve the Paris goals, writes Phil Williamson.

Investors who are standing idly by as emissions erode the value of their stock could find themselves in court, warn Howard Covington and colleagues.

Mistakes in peer-reviewed papers are easy to find but hard to fix, report David B. Allison and colleagues.

Stephan Lewandowsky and Dorothy Bishop explain how the research community should protect its members from harassment, while encouraging the openness that has become essential to science.

Engineers, chemists and others taking inspiration from biological systems for human applications must team up with biologists, writes Emilie Snell-Rood.

Proposals to bury plutonium from nuclear weapons must address chemical interactions and intrusion risks, say Cameron L. Tracy, Megan K. Dustin and Rodney C. Ewing.

Giving researchers access to information on turbine performance would allow wind farms to be optimized through data mining, says Andrew Kusiak.

Jennifer Doudna, a pioneer of the revolutionary genome-editing technology, reflects on how 2015 became the most intense year of her career — and what she's learnt.

Astronomer Meg Urry reflects on a turbulent year for women in science.