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The Australian government's proposed university policy increases competition and market forces in the sector, while raising justified concerns about independence and infrastructure. But the goal of diversifying higher education is appropriate.
Early next year, three instrument-laden landers will touch down on Mars. The Japanese craft Nozomi will enter orbit around the planet shortly afterwards. By spring 2004, data on the red planet will be flowing thick and fast.
The Beagle 2 Mars lander has had some unusual backers — among them British pop stars and artists. Declan Butler finds out how one researcher's publicity drive got the project off the ground.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory practically invented planetary exploration. Then, in 1999, it lost two craft in quick succession. Tony Reichhardt meets the staff behind two new Mars rovers, which could restore the lab's reputation.
Scientists differ from the public, and even among themselves, in their ideas of what constitutes a crystal. As these varying approaches testify, the definition of this form of matter is not as clear as its name suggests.
Widespread pollution of the environment by dioxins poses a risk to human health. The mechanism used by these chemicals to alter the body's responses to oestrogens is now being unveiled.
Scanning tunnelling microscopes provide a unique perspective on chemistry at the level of single molecules. Now there is a new way of using the tip of such a microscope to manipulate a single molecule.
Speciation has been unusually fast among the cichlid fishes of Lake Victoria. An unexpectedly distant ancestor, which perhaps already had a predisposition for rapid speciation, may have seeded this 'species flock'.
Investigations of an exposed slice of oceanic crust and mantle have provided a dramatic picture of temporal variation in the activity of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge — including its pulse rate of 3–4 million years.
Early fruitfly embryos have an unusual means of halting the division of any nuclei containing damaged DNA. A key component of this mechanism has now been identified, and might have implications for cancer.
Improving proteomic techniques will tackle questions in cell biology, signal transduction and clinical research. But workers with the key knowledge in protein biochemistry, mass spectrometry and bioinformatics are hard to find, says Kendall Powell.
Current economic conditions are putting a strain on the nascent world of proteomics. But many companies are managing to flourish by carving out their own market niche. Kendall Powell investigates.
