Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
US regulations are soon to be released allowing trials of animal-to-human transplants. Some feel this is premature, arguing that the risks of creating human diseases remain uncertain, and more preclinical research is needed.
Stormy negotiations are expected during the third meeting of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which opens in Kyoto in ten days time. But optimists hope that significant agreement can still be reached.
The past decade has seen the rapid growth of bioethics as a focal point of public concern over new technologies. Nature's correspondents report on the ways in which the bioethics movement has developed around the world.
The emerging economies of the Pacific Rim of Asia are applying research assessment to boost the quantity and quality of their research, while Japan is just awakening to the need for such processes. But cultural obstacles have led to diverse approaches across the region.