Commentary in 1999

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  • If governments are to define deception as research misconduct, science deserves clarity and rigour in the definition.

    • Louis M. Guenin
    Commentary
  • A new agriculture, combining genetic modification technology with sustainable farming, is our best hope for the future.

    • Anthony Trewavas
    Commentary
  • If the multinational Human Genome Project is to continue its successful start, sequencing strategies must be changed.

    • Jared C. Roach
    • Andrew F. Siegel
    • Leroy Hood
    Commentary
  • Most people assume that a wave, being central to all the phenomena we observe, has a uniform definition. But defining this basic concept isn't so easy.

    • John A. Scales
    • Roel Snieder
    Commentary
  • Anyone with a home PC could join climate modellers in their attempt to forecast how the Earth's climate will evolve in the next century.

    • Myles Allen
    Commentary
  • Showing that a genetically modified food is chemically similar to its natural counterpart is not adequate evidence that it is safe for human consumption.

    • Erik Millstone
    • Eric Brunner
    • Sue Mayer
    Commentary
  • Governments could safeguard the world's biodiversity with a small fraction of the money they spend on environmentally harmful subsidies.

    • Alexander N. James
    • Kevin J. Gaston
    • Andrew Balmford
    Commentary
  • Europe has been slow to exploit its considerable scientific research expertise for economic benefit. A culture of venture capitalism must be created if Europe is to compete more effectively with the United States.

    • Craig Pickering
    Commentary
  • The drive to squeeze ever more food from the land has sent Europe's farmland wildlife into a precipitous decline. How can agricultural policy be reformed so that we have fewer grain mountains and more skylarks?

    • John R. Krebs
    • Jeremy D. Wilson
    • Gavin M. Siriwardena
    Commentary
  • The relationship between the scientific community and the general public has never been worse in living memory. The commercialization of research is largely responsible, but scientists can still act on the problem.

    • Benny Haerlin
    • Doug Parr
    Commentary
  • It is time for environmental scientists and policy-makers to speak the same language, and to target the achievable, not simply the desirable. A framework is emerging from the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme.

    • Philip Newton
    Commentary
  • There is urgent need for the development and use of agricultural biotechnology in Africa to help to counter famine, environmental degradation and poverty. Africa must enthusiastically join the biotechnology revolution.

    • Florence Wambugu
    Commentary
  • Scientific societies in the developing world must take a stake in their countries' future. They should be proactive in fostering a culture supportive of economic development driven by science and technology.

    • Leo Tan Wee Hin
    • R. Subramaniam
    Commentary
  • The number of scientists in the biomedical field is growing exponentially at rates that outstrip funding. The present system of short-term research grants, resulting in armies of postdocs without career prospects, must be changed.

    • M. F. Perutz
    Commentary
  • Ergonomists have a say in the design of almost everything in the modern world, but there is little evidence that their methods actually work. Here is an evaluation of those methods and of the worth of ergonomics in design.

    • Neville A. Stanton
    • Mark S. Young
    Commentary
  • How should universities account for the money they receive from governments? The answer is not as simple as it may at first appear. There are valuable lessons that other countries can learn from the US experience.

    • Robert M. May
    • Stuart C. Sarson
    Commentary
  • Does society need protecting from scientific advances? Most emphatically not, so long as scientists themselves and their employers are committed to full disclosure of what they know.

    • Lewis Wolpert
    Commentary
  • There are strong political pressures to relax the scrutiny of suspected biological weapons activity in Iraq. But the experience of United Nations inspectors in the country points to significant dangers in such a policy.

    • Christian Seelos
    Commentary