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The UK Medical Research Council seems to have alienated a sizeable minority of the researchers that it supports. Building bridges with these disaffected individuals must be a top priority for the agency's next chief executive.
Many scientific studies produce negative results that never see the light of day. Is progress in some disciplines being hampered by researchers' tendencies to consign these data to the bin? Jonathan Knight investigates.
A decade ago, holographic systems promised to revolutionize data storage. The early hype may have evaporated, but the technology quietly progressed, and working devices are now on the market. Mark Haw reports.
Rippling patterns of electron waves in a copper oxide match the expectation for a certain kind of excitation — another step towards understanding why copper oxides superconduct at far higher temperatures than other materials.
During development, neurons extend thin protrusions that must choose between alternative routes. A study of this process in fruitflies unites two previously disparate protein families.
Sudden transitions between large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns — kinds of 'punctuated equilibria' — have a deterministic component that can be exploited to identify preferred dynamic cycles.
State-of-the-art technology has allowed pulses of the neurotransmitter dopamine to be measured on a subsecond timescale in the brains of rats. It seems that dopamine both precedes and follows the pursuit of rewards.
The capability to measure small, localized magnetic fields is valuable in biology as well as physics. A new device, based on spin-polarized alkali atoms, achieves better sensitivity and resolution than before.
The anammox reaction, a microbial process that was first observed in waste-water treatment plants, looks as if it may be a key player in the nitrogen cycle in certain parts of the oceans.
