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Editorials |
Spring-cleaning in France
The French scientific research system is ripe for reform.
The gathering storm rages on
Two years on, a National Academies report on US competitiveness struggles to make an impact.
Bountiful noise
Whether in music or in nature, noise can be full of riches. The trick is to recognize the treasures.
Research Highlights |
Journal Club |
News |
Top billing for platypus at end of evolution tree
Monotreme's genome shares features with mammals, birds and reptiles.
Chemists spin a web of data
Chemspider website provides free information on millions of molecules.
Medical schools swap pigs for plastic
Doctors used to try out their surgical skills on animals before being allowed to work on patients. Now just a handful of US medical schools still have animal labs. Meredith Wadman asks if they've lost a vital tool.
Phoenix descending
NASA's Mars strategy goes from "follow the water" to "arrive at the ice".
Research revolution?
Valérie Pecresse has been a member of the French National Assembly (Yvelines department) since 2002. She rose to prominence as the combative spokeswoman for Nicolas Sarkozy's centre–right UMP party during the 2007 presidential race, after which she was appointed minister for higher education and research.
Sidelines
Scribbles on the margins of science.
News Features |
Earth science: Harnessing the hum
A new way to analyse seismic vibrations is bringing order out of noise to help predict volcanic eruptions or create detailed images of Earth's interior. Rachel Courtland reports.
Cell biology: The cellular hullabaloo
The inner life of a cell is noisy. Helen Pearson discovers how the resulting randomness makes life more challenging — and richer.
Correspondence |
Books and Arts |
Not so amateur
Volunteer star-gazers tracking satellites at the start of the space age often surpassed the professionals.
Saving art in situ
A conservation scientist explains how borrowing gadgets from Mars rovers helps preserve culture on Earth.
Essay |
Science & Music: Facing the music
At the heart of any scientific explanation of music is an understanding of how and why it affects us. In the first of a nine-part essay series, Philip Ball explores just how far we can hope to achieve a full scientific theory of music.
News and Views |
Planetary science: Music of the stratospheres
Fifteen-year oscillations in Saturn's equatorial stratosphere bear a striking resemblance to the shorter-term oscillations seen on Earth and Jupiter — akin to notes played on a cello, a violin and a viola.
Computational biochemistry: Old enzymes, new tricks
Although enzymes are superb catalysts, their range of reactions is limited to those that support life. Their repertoire could be expanded by a method that allows artificial enzymes to be made from scratch.
Device physics: Chance match
A clever device uses the quantum statistics of electron tunnelling to match image patterns. The circuit is low-power, works at room temperature — and could point to a way forward for silicon electronics.
Quantum information: Stopping the rot
Uncontrollable outside influences undermine the whole enterprise of quantum computing. Nailing down the sources of this 'decoherence' in a solid-state system is a step towards solving the problem.
Molecular biology: An HIV secret uncovered
With two catalytic activities and many substrates, how does HIV's reverse transcriptase enzyme know what to do to which substrate? Zooming in on the enzyme's molecular interactions provides tantalizing clues.
News and Views Q&A |
Materials science: Supramolecular polymers
Most polymers consist of long molecular chains made up of many units connected by covalent bonds — but supramolecular polymers are different. The strikingly dynamic properties of these materials arise from the reversible bonds that hold their chains together, and open up the prospect of many new applications.
Articles |
Letters |
Naturejobs |
Prospect
Prospects
Postdocs need a set of defined, widely endorsed core competencies. Or do they?
Region
Toronto rising
Specialist research centres are springing up in Canada's biggest city, nourished by government funds that also attract high-calibre scientists. Kurt Kleiner reports.
Career View
Karin Lochte, director, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
Oceanographer and climate change specialist heads to Germany's Wegener Institute.
Animal assets in academia
Trying to get vets into academia.
Going with your gut
I strive to find the best hummus — and the best experimental approach.
Spotlight
Futures |
The icosahedral anaster
A slight detour?
