News Feature

As the United States destroys its old dams, species are streaming back into the unfettered rivers.

DNA circulating in the bloodstream could guide cancer treatment — if researchers can work out how best to use it.

When California's governor enlisted the aid of two palaeoecologists, their careers took an unusual turn.

Fuelled by venture capital and a lot of hope, alternative fusion technologies are heating up.

After two decades and more than half a billion dollars, LIGO, the world's largest gravitational-wave observatory, is on the verge of a detection. Maybe.

Gastric-bypass surgery can curb obesity as well as diabetes and a slew of other problems. Researchers are now trying to find out how it works.

From dogs to balloons, researchers are using unorthodox ways to find out where malaria vectors hide during a long dry season.

As a much-hailed breakthrough in stem-cell science unravelled this year, many have been asking: ‘Where were the safeguards?’

The discovery of thousands of star systems wildly different from our own has demolished ideas about how planets form. Astronomers are searching for a whole new theory.

A decade ago, voters in California changed the biomedical research landscape by directly funding embryonic stem-cell research. Now the organization they created needs a hit to survive.

Romance often sparks between colleagues, and scientists are no different. Nature profiles four super-couples who have combined love and the lab.

After decades of study, researchers still can't agree on whether nutritional supplements actually improve health.

Members of the US National Academy of Sciences have long enjoyed a privileged path to publication in the body's prominent house journal. Meet the scientists who use it most heavily.

Researchers are exploring unconventional sources of fresh water to quench the globe's growing thirst.

Growing resources for research and development are creating opportunities across the continent, but many countries still struggle to build their programmes.

South American efforts to repatriate scientists are paying off.

Despite myriad problems in many countries, pockets of excellence thrive in South American science.

Researchers make headway in turning photons into fuel.

For decades, most researchers ignored the leading genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. That is set to change.