Comment in 2014

Society's infrastructure is hit hard by extreme weather. Networks of trade, transport and production need to adapt globally, says Anders Levermann.

Planning for large facilities should incorporate the views of all crystallographers, says Paolo G. Radaelli.

Georgina Ferry celebrates the egalitarian, collaborative culture that has so far produced two female Nobel prizewinners.

Francis S. Collins and Lawrence A. Tabak discuss initiatives that the US National Institutes of Health is exploring to restore the self-correcting nature of preclinical research.

Edward B. Barbier and colleagues call for governance and funds for deep-sea reserves and the restoration of ecosystems damaged by commercial interests.

Separate ethics courses are not enough, argues Erin A. Cech. Understanding the public-welfare impacts of science and engineering is a core professional skill.

A US drug-agency clampdown is unwarranted without evidence of harm, say Robert C. Green and Nita A. Farahany.

Gross domestic product is a misleading measure of national success. Countries should act now to embrace new metrics, urge Robert Costanza and colleagues.

Practical, interdisciplinary ways of working forged during the Second World War had a lasting impact on a generation of physicists and their findings, says David Kaiser.