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Chemistry is aping biology in the search for new antibiotics.

Fears that the end of the world might be hatched in a particle accelerator are unwarranted, explains Philip Ball. .

There is more to a blink than meets the eye, Jessa Netting finds. .

Sideways vision means there is more to the prey-plucking plummet of a peregrine falcon than meets the eye.

A new composite ceramic could extend the lifetime of artificial hip implants. .

Paris

The French government has announced plans to triple the funding of research on prions, which are thought to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, from 2001.

A silicon solid-state laser that would transform information technology is one step closer, Philip Ball reports. .

Munich

Despite their tiny size, the purported pathogenic microorganisms dubbed 'nanobacteria' are still stirring big controversy in microbiological circles.

Jerusalem

Research directors at Israel's universities say that an upcoming government-sponsored report on biotechnology policy will be worthless because they were not consulted by its authors.

The environmental and social cost of major dam projects around the world has been unacceptably high, even though many of them have provided significant economic benefits, says a global assessment that is expected to influence future consideration of dam developments.

Munich

Fusion research received a tentative boost last week when the member states of the European Union (EU) reaffirmed their commitment to build the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the experiment regarded as a vital next step towards realizing fusion energy.

Munich

Brussels bureaucrats can be flexible when it matters. The European Union's (EU) research commission last week announced changes to the Quality of Life component of its fifth Framework programme of research — which is usually thought to be set in stone. The changes mean increased support for genomics resource centres and large-scale genomics research.

A new test for diseases like BSE could be round the corner. David Adam reports. .

Washington

Study of the placebo effect — the role of medically inactive treatments in healing — could help to bridge the divide between mainstream and alternative medicine, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) meeting was told this week.

Washington

The US government looks unlikely to bow to demands from Aventis that it temporarily approve the company's genetically modified StarLink corn for human consumption, following the inadvertent and embarrassing release of the strain into the food chain.

San Francisco

Researchers clashed at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) over a book that has generated a storm of criticism for anthropologists since it was published earlier this year.

When it comes to fighting cancer, we can learn something from the common cold, reports Jessa Netting. .

Valerie Depraetere finds out why some birds go AWOL. .