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The most suitably qualified person should secure an important post, in almost all instances. But competing interests among nations mean that this is not always the case in Europe.
Scientists tend to complain that Congress rarely pays heed to what they have to say. But the issues are often as much about values as they are science, says David Goldston.
As a fast-growing emitter of greenhouse gases, the aviation industry is under intense pressure to improve its fuel efficiency. Kurt Kleiner surveys its options.
Studies of mass extinctions tend to emphasize the sheer scope of the carnage. But subtle differences between the species that died and those that survived can be crucial, finds Nick Lane.
If scientific culture in the Muslim world has changed since the golden era of Islamic science, so has the practice of Islam. Reintroducing knowledge and creativity requires a revival of both, argues Ziauddin Sardar.
Diffraction places a fundamental limit on the smallest scales at which light can be controlled. A nanoscale silver array not only circumvents the barrier, but steers different-coloured light to different places.
During transcription, RNA polymerase catalyses the addition of nucleotides to the growing RNA chain. High-resolution structural snapshots indicate that the polymerase first identifies its substrate, and then incorporates it.
Is the presence of water a feature common to all gas-giant planets? The first convincing detection of water vapour in the atmosphere of such a planet from outside our Solar System indicates that the answer is yes.
Experiments in which related and unrelated plants were grown together reveal the ability of roots to recognize their kin. The ecological and evolutionary implications are tantalizing topics for future studies.
Perception of cold and hot is one of life's essentials. Three research teams find that, when a temperature-sensing receptor is deleted in mice, the animals lose their response to a range of cold temperatures.
A library of transgenic flies expressing RNAi in a conditional manner, for virtually every gene in the Drosophila melanogaster genome, has been generated. This resource will allow the community to test the function of every gene, in any cell type, at any development stage, or in response to various types of experimental stimulations.
Crystal structure of bacterial RNA polymerase bound to the DNA template and RNA product, revealing a detailed view of the transcription elongation complex.
Crystal structures of bacterial RNA polymerase elongation complexes bound to NTP substrate analogues with an antibiotic, revealing the mechanism of substrate loading and antibiotic inhibition.
A report of recent observations of the close-in extrasolar giant planet (hot Jupiter) HD 189733b taken during the transit, where the planet passed in front of its parent star. Absorption by water vapour is the most likely cause of the wavelength-dependent variations in the effective radius of the planet.
A report of the chemical composition of two distinct fragments of comet 73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann 3. The fragments are similar in composition, in contrast to the chemical diversity of comets and contrary to the expectation that short-period comets should show strong compositional variation with depth.
A powerful new spectroscopic technique (high-resolution time-domain capacitance spectroscopy) for detailed exploration of the energy structure of two-dimensional electron systems (2DES) gives a quantitative and precise view of electron–electron interactions in a 2DES, and reveals several phenomena at energies that cannot be reached with other techniques.
Marine sediments can switch from being a net sink to a net source of nitrogen. Mesocosm and core incubation experiments, together with a historic data set of mean annual chlorophyll production, suggest that a climate-induced decrease in primary production has led to a decrease in organic matter deposition to the benthos and the observed reversal of the net sediment nitrogen flux.
Gravity and bathymetry data from transform fault systems associated with mid-ocean ridges that are spreading at different rates indicates that crustal thickening may occur under transform faults associated with intermediate- and fast-spreading ridges. If confirmed, this observation would require a change in our understanding of how magma accretion occurs along rapidly spreading mid-ocean ridges.
An analysis of published data from grassland biodiversity experiments looks at the relationship between biodiversity and multiple ecological processes (ecosystem multifunctionality). Different species often influence different ecosystem functions, suggesting that studies considering single ecosystem services in isolation may severely underestimate the levels of biodiversity required for fully functioning ecosystems.
A study revealing that pluripotent stem cells (EpiSCs) can be derived from the late epiblast layer of post-implantation mouse and rat embryos. To achieve this, a chemically defined, activin-containing culture medium known to be sufficient for long-term maintenance of human embryonic stem cells is used. These findings will help to understand the biological provenance of human embryonic stem cells.
Mouse and human embryonic stem (ES) cells use different signalling pathways to maintain their pluripotent status. Now, a new kind of pluripotent ES cell is described. This cell type is derived from mouse embryos after they implant in the wall of the uterus, and shares many defining features with human ES cells, including signalling responses that control differentiation to somatic fates.
Membrane ion channels of the P2X class, which are gated by extracellular ATP, have been thought to be an exclusivity of multicellular organisms. Now, a functional P2X receptor in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum has been found. It helps D. discoideum to adapt its cell volume to conditions of salinity. This discovery suggests vastly expanded modes of action for this important class of membrane receptors.
The identity of the transduction molecules underlying cold sensation has long been a mystery in sensory physiology. Now, using a combination of electrophysiological recording, calcium imaging and behavioural analysis, TRPM8 is shown to have a major role in normal cold transduction in mice.
A report on single topoisomerase molecules in action, showing that topoisomerase inhibitors don't just stabilize an intermediate but actually affect the ability of topoisomerase to relax DNA supercoiling, suggesting a new mechanism by which these drugs cause cytotoxicity.
