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Volume 472 Issue 7343, 21 April 2011

The world is producing more PhD scientists than ever before. But does the traditional PhD equip researchers to cope with the harsh realities of the modern world? We ask whether it’s time to take stock and pause the production line. Alison McCook reports on the alternatives being put forward as replacements or quick fixes for the PhD. And in Comment, we gather personal recollections from one-time PhD students, reflecting on seven contrasting decades of the PhD. From the ‘age of formality’ in the 1950s, through the ‘age of innocence’ (guess) to the ‘age of communication’ (that’s now). Cover illustration: Oliver Munday

Volume 472 Issue 7343

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Editorial

  • Every researcher and institution should question their own attitudes to safety in the lab after the death of an undergraduate student in a Yale University workshop.

    Editorial

    Advertisement

  • No longer a guaranteed ticket to an academic career, the PhD system needs a serious rethink.

    Editorial

  • A new report offers useful insight into the continuing stalemate over global warming.

    Editorial
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World View

  • There are too many doctoral programmes, producing too many PhDs for the job market. Shut some and change the rest, says Mark C. Taylor.

    • Mark Taylor
    World View
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Research Highlights

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Seven Days

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News

  • Fatality adds further momentum to calls for a shake-up in academic safety culture.

    • Richard Van Noorden
    News

  • A leading explanation for how disease migrates falls short on clinical evidence.

    • Heidi Ledford
    News
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News Q&A

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Correction

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News Feature

  • The world is producing more PhDs than ever before. Is it time to stop?

    • David Cyranoski
    • Natasha Gilbert
    • Mohammed Yahia
    News Feature

  • Fix it, overhaul it or skip it completely — institutions and individuals are taking innovative approaches to postgraduate science training.

    • Alison McCook
    News Feature
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Comment

  • Scientists share memories of doing doctorates in different decades, disciplines and locations, from the hunt for the structure of DNA to deciphering the human genome.

    • Raymond Gosling
    • Cheryll Tickle
    • Erika Cule
    Comment

  • As the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) turns 50, Henry Nicholls traces how the evolution of conservation practice has been echoed in the various incarnations of WWF's iconic pandas, and other conservation logos.

    • Henry Nicholls
    Comment
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Correction

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Books & Arts

  • Tony McMichael welcomes an overview of an under-recognized climate issue: the threat to human health.

    • Tony McMichael
    Books & Arts

  • Daniel Cressey finds there is more to dirt than disease at a London exhibition.

    • Daniel Cressey
    Books & Arts

  • Isabella Rossellini, star of films including Blue Velvet (1986) and Big Night (1996), has made a series of short films on the mating rituals of insects and sea creatures. As her latest humorous biopic debuts in the United States, Rossellini explains why she is fascinated by animals.

    • Isabella Rossellini
    Books & Arts
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Correspondence

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Obituary

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News & Views

  • The placenta does not only act as the essential link between the developing embryo and its mother. Unexpectedly, it is also a source of serotonin — a neurotransmitter that is crucial for embryonic brain development. See Letter p.347

    • Ron McKay
    News & Views

  • Rubbery polymers have been made in which damage is healed by exposure to light. The healing mechanism allows localized, on-demand repair, and might help to extend the lifetimes of materials for many applications. See Letter p.334

    • Nancy R. Sottos
    • Jeffrey S. Moore
    News & Views

  • Evidence that a larval brachiopod has ciliary photoreceptors that are directionally selective, and therefore may function as eyes, bears on an enduring puzzle about photoreceptor evolution in animals.

    • Daniel Osorio
    News & Views

  • The trend towards using ultracold atoms as simulators of condensed-matter and many-body phenomena is gaining momentum. These systems can now be used to simulate quantum magnetism. See Article p.307

    • Ian B. Spielman
    News & Views

  • A major hurdle to successful cancer treatment is tumour resistance to chemotherapy. White blood cells called macrophages often infiltrate tumours in large numbers, and now appear to promote tumour chemoresistance.

    • Michele De Palma
    • Claire E. Lewis
    News & Views

  • Wavy strips of piezoelectric materials on stretchable substrates can both withstand larger applied mechanical strain without cracking and harvest energy more efficiently than their flat counterparts.

    • Min Hyung Lee
    • Ali Javey
    News & Views

  • TRIM5 proteins limit retroviral infection by targeting the viral coat. It now seems that these proteins can also serve as pattern-recognition receptors, which initiate cellular innate immune responses. See Letter p.361

    • Christopher Aiken
    • Sebastian Joyce
    News & Views
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Article

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Letter

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Feature

  • To secure elusive funding, entrepreneurs must understand the financial landscape and the motivations of investing firms.

    • Sarah Kellogg
    Feature
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Column

  • An advanced degree doesn't always bring the prospects it once did, says Peter Fiske. But scientists can learn from the travails of those with professional qualifications.

    • Peter Fiske
    Column
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Futures

  • The heat is on.

    • Brian P. Frank
    Futures
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