Features in 2010

Qatar's research machine is a work in progress, but its funding opportunities are already luring international scientists to its increasing number of institutions.

Disease outbreaks in recent years have revealed the vulnerability of food supplies. But they offer opportunities for those interested in waging war on microbes.

Manuscript-editing services are growing. Can they turn a mediocre paper into a publishable one? And at what cost?

Nanomaterials have evolved from innovation to application — and the career possibilities have blossomed.

Some scientists embrace the media; others bristle. All should know how to reach out, and how their careers can benefit.

Although still highly desirable, tenure is not as prevalent as it was in some places — and that may not be a bad thing.

Berlin is an international hotspot for young scientists. Now it has to provide the incentives to help them stay long term.

Hospitals are an obvious career destination for medical doctors. But are they a good fit for basic scientists?

Prolific authors and journal editors share how to get manuscripts noticed, approved and put in print.

Unionizing has become more common at US campuses, but postdocs should weigh up the pros and cons of membership.

Saving for retirement is not easy for most early-career academic scientists. But they do have options.

Chagas disease is a disease of Latin America. In spite of extensive control efforts it is so prevalent that in some areas, such as within the Gran Chaco (see Chagas disease in the Chaco, on page S18), one person in 16 is infected.

It is 101 years since Carlos Chagas discovered the parasite responsible for the disease that now bears his name. What progress has been made since this discovery? Here Julie Clayton gives the low-down on Chagas disease.

Anna Petherick investigates the nature of Chagas disease and how its management varies across Latin America.

The publishing of the first Trypanosoma cruzi genome sequence was hailed as “a huge intellectual triumph”, but what has it delivered?

Energized individuals have worked hard to raise awareness. But politicians have not always listened.

Forty years after the first drugs were introduced, what are the prospects for new ones?

Researching disease transmission in poor, rural settings is part scientific inquiry, part diplomacy.