Commentary in 2006

Are some ways of measuring scientific quality better than others? Sune Lehmann, Andrew D. Jackson and Benny E. Lautrup analyse the reliability of commonly used methods for comparing citation records.

Effective diagnosis, paired with treatment, for developing-world diseases can have far-reaching impacts, says the Global Health Diagnostics Forum.

The pursuit of responsible nanotechnologies can be tackled through a series of grand challenges, argue Andrew D. Maynard and his co-authors.

Building a knowledge-based society in today's Arab world depends on overcoming primarily political obstacles to progress. Nader Fergany analyses the reforms required for an Arab renaissance.

Muslim nations must take a big leap forward in developing science and technology to catch up with the rest of the world, argues Herwig Schopper, or they risk falling behind in the global economy.

An international data bank of nuclear explosives is needed to determine the source of nuclear materials following an explosion, argue Michael May, Jay Davis and Raymond Jeanloz.

To maximize the resources allocated to science and technology during the next US administration the science community must prepare now, argues Thomas Kalil.

With scant evidence that market-based conservation works, argues Douglas J. McCauley, the time is ripe for returning to the protection of nature for nature's sake.

Women who donate their eggs for stem-cell research should be compensated in the same way as other healthy research volunteers, argues Insoo Hyun.

For policymakers, biodiversity can present more complex challenges than climate change, argue Michel Loreau, Alfred Oteng-Yeboah and their co-authors. So why isn't there an international panel of experts for biodiversity?

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.