News Feature in 2009

Geological faults are not behaving as scientists once expected. Glennda Chui reports on efforts to forge a new understanding of quake behaviour.

Researchers have engineered more than 30 strains of 'smart mice', revealing possible ways to boost human brains. But, as Jonah Lehrer finds, cognitive enhancement may come at a cost.

Genome-wide association studies have identified hundreds of genetic clues to disease. Kelly Rae Chi looks at three to see just how on-target the approach seems to be.

Phosphate-based fertilizers have helped spur agricultural gains in the past century, but the world may soon run out of them. Natasha Gilbert investigates the potential phosphate crisis.

Small oscillations of surface electrons that manipulate light on the nanoscale could be the route to applications as disparate as faster computer chips and cures for cancer. Joerg Heber reports.

The collapse of communism opened up the world to scientists from eastern Europe. Quirin Schiermeier talks to researchers about what changed.

When American and Chinese scientists agreed to measure pollution and dust over China, nobody foresaw how difficult it would be. Jane Qiu reports.

Canada's Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics was intended to become a world leader in the field. Eric Hand finds out if it has lived up to its ambitions.

How do researchers and policy-makers decide on the value of health? Daniel Cressey looks at Britain's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Paul Thacker, a reporter-turned-Congressional-investigator, has disrupted the careers of several top researchers with lucrative industry ties. Meredith Wadman tracks his effect on US science.

Hagfish and lampreys are the only surviving fish without jaws. And they could solve an evolutionary mystery, finds Henry Nicholls.

Most researchers agree that open access to data is the scientific ideal, so what is stopping it happening? Bryn Nelson investigates why many researchers choose not to share.

Lightning and fires on the Arctic tundra seem to be on the rise. Jane Qiu meets the researchers learning from the scorched earth in Alaska.

Papers suggesting that biotech crops might harm the environment attract a hail of abuse from other scientists. Emily Waltz asks if the critics fight fair.

He looks like a child and plays like a child. But can the iCub robot reveal how a child learns and thinks? Nicola Nosengo reports.

Some diseases defy diagnosis. Brendan Maher meets two people who hope that the US National Institutes of Health can help.

Patients checking in to the German Mouse Clinic will undergo the most sophisticated medical testing in the world. But, finds Alison Abbott, the waiting list is becoming a problem.

Ecologists have struggled to reconcile what they see in the lab and in the wild. But both views are needed to understand the effects of extinction, finds Virginia Gewin.

When nations made plans to save the ozone layer, they didn't factor in global warming. Quirin Schiermeier reports on how two environmental problems complicate each other.