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Previous assurances by the director of the US National Institutes of Health to Congress over the regulation of conflicts of interest are contradicted by fresh allegations. Tough new rules for staff seem essential to restore public confidence.
As a child, geneticist Mario Capecchi had to fight for survival after his mother was imprisoned by the Nazis. He tells his story to Carina Dennis, hoping to inspire others from a disadvantaged background.
The world's highest urban wind farm could be a flagship project for renewable energy, if New York City planners get their way. Are city dwellers ready for wind power? Jonathan Knight investigates.
Populations of cells can exhibit remarkably precise and stable circadian oscillations. But can single cells achieve such precision in the absence of intercellular communication? For cyanobacteria, it seems so.
Three gas-giant planets have now been found in puzzlingly close orbits around their stars. These ‘very hot Jupiters’ raise questions about planet-finding methods and our understanding of planetary systems.
How do genomes evolve? Studies of numerous yeast species confirm the view that the duplication of genes, larger chromosomal segments and whole genomes are key mechanisms.
An innovative analysis of isotope signatures in fish fossils will help in understanding past ocean circulation and its role in the climate system, and in testing models for climate reconstruction.
Is the function of sleep to replenish energy resources or to modify neural connections in the brain? Recordings of the brain's ‘reverberating circuits’ evident during sleep shed light on the question.
The acoustic waves that ripple through the Sun should exist in other stars too. But a search for these ‘starquakes’ in the nearby star Procyon has found no evidence of them.
The complicated responses of lung-cancer patients to a particular drug — gefitinib — are now less puzzling. Mutations in the target gene help to explain why the treatment works in some cases but not in others.
Synthesizing and selecting the lead compounds that will become the drugs of the future are the heart of drug discovery. Tim Chapman goes back to basics.
