Commentary

The suggestion that women are not advancing in science because of innate inability is being taken seriously by some high-profile academics. Ben A. Barres explains what is wrong with the hypothesis.

Europe's contribution to the global advancement of science and the promotion of learning is in decline. Better funding of universities and research institutions is needed to reverse this trend, argues Christopher Patten.

Alternative ways to develop diagnostic tools for use in resource-poor settings can, and do, exist, argue Martine Usdin, Martine Guillerm and Pierre Chirac of Doctors without Borders.

What role do cats play in the epidemiology of H5N1 avian flu virus? We don't yet have all the answers, but it's time to consider new precautions, argue Thijs Kuiken, Albert Osterhaus, Peter Roeder and their colleagues.

Twenty years ago, the nuclear accident at Chernobyl exposed hundreds of thousands of people to radioactive fallout. We still have much to learn about its consequences, argue Dillwyn Williams and Keith Baverstock.

The road leading from computer formalisms to explaining biological function will be difficult, but Roger Brent and Jehoshua Bruck suggest three hopeful paths that could take us closer to this goal.

What will emerge from using the Internet as a research tool? The answer, Vernor Vinge argues, will be limited only by our imaginations.

To view the relationship between computing and science as a one-way street is mostly untrue today, argues Ian Foster, and will be even less true by 2020.

Scientists are turning to automated processes and technologies in a bid to cope with ever higher volumes of data. But automation offers so much more to the future of science than just data handling, says Stephen H. Muggleton.

The amount of scientific data is doubling every year. Alexander Szalay and Jim Gray analyse how scientific methods are evolving from paper notebooks to huge online databases.

Good surveillance is key to responding to a bird flu pandemic. Jean-Paul Chretien, David L. Blazes and their colleagues propose a new network of labs modelled on existing military facilities.

Google Earth software proved effective during relief efforts in New Orleans and Pakistan, say Illah Nourbakhsh and colleagues. Is there more to be gained than lost from opening up disaster operations to the wider public?

Pursuing drugs for neglected diseases is not a traditional part of the pharmaceutical company portfolio. But Paul Herrling of Novartis finds that it brings welcome changes both within and outside the industry.

For the past half-century, biologists have been uncovering details of countless molecular events. Linking these data to dynamic models requires new software and data standards, argue Marvin Cassman and his colleagues.

Synthetic biology, which involves the engineering of new biological components and organisms and the redesign of existing ones, will require community discipline and openness if it is to flourish safely, says George Church.

Regional climate change should not be seen only as a threat; changes to weather patterns could generate opportunities for large-scale innovations, say Pavel Kabat, Pier Vellinga and their colleagues.

The path between climate science and policy is not always linear, argue Aristides Patrinos and Anjuli Bamzai.

The next large-scale human genome project after HapMap should catalogue inherited variation in the general population that directly affects gene function, argues Richard Gibbs.