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The United States has rejected an attempt to give teeth to the Biological Weapons Convention, complaining that the protocol is too weak. If so, this is largely because of US demands. No wonder America's allies feel betrayed.
Britain's epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease gave the government's chief scientific adviser, David King, a baptism of fire. He has emerged with his political standing enhanced, says David Adam.
When chemists developed techniques to peer into the heart of chemical reactions, they opened up a new world for study. Yudhijit Bhattacharjee finds out how, a decade later, the early promise has been realized.
Microelectronic devices incorporating organic materials could find a host of applications. That prospect inches nearer with the development of a strategy for growing thin films of the organic semiconductor pentacene.
Traditional population forecasts made by statistical agencies do not quantify uncertainty. But demographers and statisticians have developed methods to calculate probabilistic forecasts.
Attempts to tailor nanometre-scale objects to mimic and interact with natural materials raise the question of how to predict the biological response to these tiny creations.
The cell-division cycle involves careful timing: cell-cycle genes must be switched on only when needed. The retinoblastoma protein controls one set of these genes, and one way it does this is most unusual.
An explanation for superconductivity in high-temperature, or 'unconventional', materials remains elusive. New experiments may indicate a surprising similarity to their low-temperature counterparts.
Brain-scan technology could one day be used to match verbal descriptions of private emotions with brain activity, thereby refining our emotional vocabulary.
