News Feature in 2008

Zambia, with help from partners around the world, is stepping up its battle against malaria. Michael Hopkin reports from the rural front line.

After decades of work, a pioneering malaria vaccine may soon reach the final phase of clinical trials. In the first of two features on efforts against malaria, Brendan Maher reports on a vaccine that is far from perfect - but which may provide new direction and save thousands of lives.

The dream of perpetual flight without fuel has inspired pilots to take to the skies in solar-powered planes. Vicki Cleave looks at a mission to fly a solar plane through the night - and around the world.

Chinese authors are publishing more and more papers, but are they receiving due credit and recognition for their work? Not if their names get confused along the way. Jane Qiu reports.

George Church has made a name for himself as an 'information exhibitionist'. Erika Check Hayden explores how the technological sage is turning his gaze to the next horizon - you.

Scientists and politicians in New Jersey thought that they had a chance to make their state a stem-cell player. Voters thought otherwise. As proponents prepare for a second attempt, Meredith Wadman investigates what went wrong in the Garden State.

What can evolution say about why humans kill - and about why we do so less than we used to? Dan Jones reports.

Genomewide association studies are starting to turn up increasingly reliable disease markers. Monya Baker investigates where we are now and what comes next.

Half a century after its creation, the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is considered a paragon of government innovation. But some question whether it is still relevant. Sharon Weinberger reports.

Viral and microbial interactions within living tissues are more complex than previously thought. Melinda Wenner explores whether a periodic table of the infectious could help sort out the mess.

Physicists often borrow techniques from other fields. But how far can this get you? Geoff Brumfiel asks if simple table-top experiments can provide new insights into the early Universe.

A German physicist and a hedge-fund magnate are competing to push protein simulations into the realm of the millisecond. Brendan Borrell finds out what is at stake.

A winning combination of isolation, local involvement and a broad ecological remit are making the management of the seas around Colombia's San Andrés islands a model for other conservationists, reports Mark Schrope.

Long dismissed as featureless, disorganized sacks, bacteria are now revealing a multitude of elegant internal structures. Ewen Callaway investigates a new field in cell biology.

Are think-tanks staffed by scientists a luxury that only rich nations can afford? Ehsan Masood meets the founders of four institutes that set out to help poorer nations to think for themselves.

As countries race to file claims to areas of the sea floor before a United Nations deadline, geologists and geophysicists are getting caught up in the frenzy. Daniel Cressey reports.