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Toshio Yanagida rejects the conventional biophysical explanation of muscle contraction. No one doubts his technical genius, but could the debate he started ultimately hold back the field? David Cyranoski investigates.
Arabidopsis was an obvious choice for the first plant genome project, but it will never feed the world. David Adam reports on efforts to harvest the genomes of rice and other important crop plants.
Changes in the extent and thickness of sea ice could alter ocean circulation and so disrupt the climate. Jon Copley considers one of the big unknowns in the global warming debate.
Small space probes can thumb a ride into space and then hurl themselves around the Solar System using orbital gymnastics — meaning that you no longer need bottomless pockets to do planetary science. Robert Adler talks to the thrifty engineers who are making it happen.
The world's main supplier of exotic Drosophila species has had a poor record for customer service. But, as Rex Dalton found, it is having a facelift that should boost studies of evolutionary genetics.
When Zhores Alferov won a share of this year's Nobel Prize for Physics, he restored pride to Russian science. But can he exploit his celebrity status to move research up the political agenda? Quirin Schiermeier investigates.
Bacteria do not always simply float around — more often they grow on surfaces in mucilaginous communities called biofilms. Working out how to block their formation or dismantle them could help treat life-threatening infections, says Marina Chicurel.
Advances in automation and genome sequence data will allow new protein structures to be produced faster than ever before. As the era of structural genomics unfolds, it could revolutionize drug discovery, says Alison Abbott.
Large telescopes are starting to dominate astronomy, putting their smaller predecessors under pressure to close. But if astronomers can adapt their ways of working, says Alexander Hellemans, both big and small could thrive.
Chemists are working to find alternatives to the noxious organic solvents that currently dominate their industry. As the leading candidates begin to hit the production plant, David Adam tests the atmosphere.
By collaborating with western companies, are India's research institutes consolidating their positions or allowing their young researchers to be exploited as a cheap scientific labour force? K. S. Jayaraman investigates
In several labs around Boston, the techniques of genetic and tissue engineering are being used in the name of art. Steve Nadis asks the artists and scientists involved what they gain from this fusion of high culture and cell culture.
Neuroscientists at last have a molecular handle on how the brain controls our daily cycle of sleep and wakefulness. This is opening a rich avenue of study that could lead to new therapies for sleep disorders, says Marina Chicurel.
Can Brazil build on its achievement of completing the first genome sequence of a plant pathogen? That may depend on its willingness to reform its universities, say Colin Macilwain and Ricardo Bonalume Neto.
Silicon remains the computer chip industry's material of choice. But for simpler circuitry, it could soon have some surprising rivals. David Voss talks to the scientists who are trying to make electronics go organic.
Small molecules that selectively disrupt the proteins encoded by individual genes could become powerful tools in functional genomics. Trisha Gura explores the nascent but highly promising field of chemical genetics.
