Editorials in 2004

A state-led lawsuit against greenhouse-gas emitters highlights a forceful regional movement in US climate policy.

A dispute between researchers and a small Native American tribe has cast an unduly large shadow over genetics. Both sides have much to gain from deeper communication, aided by those who belong to both communities.

We are witnessing a catastrophic loss of species that is the direct result of human activities. Yet we remain scandalously ill informed about the processes that give rise to biodiversity, and the consequences of its loss.

Political pressures threaten to undermine a key agency involved in tackling the problems posed by drugs.

Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, can demonstrate his aspirations to statesmanship by using the occasion of the XV International AIDS Conference to free health workers unjustly sentenced to death for infecting patients with HIV.

Introducing the first Europe-wide meeting for scientists and science's stakeholders.

How to access all of Nature publications' journalism in one fell swoop.

The triumph of the spacecraft's arrival in orbit around Saturn last week heralds four years of outstanding research. But the longer-term ambitions of NASA and planetary researchers signal trouble ahead.

Proponents of turbines on top of New York's Freedom Tower had better get their sums right.

Previous assurances by the director of the US National Institutes of Health to Congress over the regulation of conflicts of interest are contradicted by fresh allegations. Tough new rules for staff seem essential to restore public confidence.

The decision by the University of Konstanz to retract the PhD of Jan Hendrik Schön is misguided.

Japan is building a superb vessel for ocean drilling but seems reluctant to provide the necessary resources for using it. It is missing an opportunity to take a scientific lead.

A project that explores a research frontier, attracts high-school students of both sexes and diverse ethnicities and that can be scaled up to international level deserves not only celebration but also the €1-million support that it has just won.

Why scientists should support an artist in trouble.

A new approach to registering ownership should rebuild confidence, benefiting all stakeholders.

Constitutional law can make the eyes glaze over, but scientists need to be wary of subtle amendments that may undermine a fundamental liberty enshrined in most constitutions: scientific freedom.

How to sustain the reliability of the patenting system?

Concerns about a cancer diagnostics test based on proteomics highlight the threat to public trust in healthcare products where the relevant data are not publicly available — and what can be achieved when they are.

A night out in a bar is all the more enjoyable if you can digest some science too. That's the lesson of a growing movement whose character may be local but whose reach is potentially global — and at a small cost.

Willingly or not, Russia's science academy has become part of the political economy of climate.