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The Nobel laureate's prizewinning work was accomplished in the Soviet era, but his example and initiative can help Russia rebuild its science and technology. Philanthropists should take note.
Researchers clashed at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) over a book that has generated a storm of criticism for anthropologists since it was published earlier this year.
Fusion research received a tentative boost last week when the member states of the European Union (EU) reaffirmed their commitment to build the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the experiment regarded as a vital next step towards realizing fusion energy.
The French government has announced plans to triple the funding of research on prions, which are thought to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, from 2001.
Brussels bureaucrats can be flexible when it matters. The European Union's (EU) research commission last week announced changes to the Quality of Life component of its fifth Framework programme of research — which is usually thought to be set in stone. The changes mean increased support for genomics resource centres and large-scale genomics research.
Study of the placebo effect — the role of medically inactive treatments in healing — could help to bridge the divide between mainstream and alternative medicine, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) meeting was told this week.
Research directors at Israel's universities say that an upcoming government-sponsored report on biotechnology policy will be worthless because they were not consulted by its authors.
The environmental and social cost of major dam projects around the world has been unacceptably high, even though many of them have provided significant economic benefits, says a global assessment that is expected to influence future consideration of dam developments.
The US government looks unlikely to bow to demands from Aventis that it temporarily approve the company's genetically modified StarLink corn for human consumption, following the inadvertent and embarrassing release of the strain into the food chain.
When Zhores Alferov won a share of this year's Nobel Prize for Physics, he restored pride to Russian science. But can he exploit his celebrity status to move research up the political agenda? Quirin Schiermeier investigates.
The world's main supplier of exotic Drosophila species has had a poor record for customer service. But, as Rex Dalton found, it is having a facelift that should boost studies of evolutionary genetics.
Silicon lasers would help computers operate faster by replacing electrical connections with optical ones. The trouble is, normal silicon doesn't glow. Densely packed silicon nanocrystals could be the answer.
Modifications to histone proteins were thought to act only locally to control the expression of single genes. But the finding of such changes across the whole genome brings that view into question.
A long-term study of fruitflies adds to the evidence that evolution can run backwards. To what extent the genetic underpinnings revert to the original is unclear.
Studies in fruitflies support the idea that regulatory regions of genes control development by acting as molecular 'computers', calculating cell fate according to the combined effects of several signalling pathways.
Delivery of an insulin-encoding gene into diabetic rats and mice has helped them to regulate their blood glucose levels. But there are still obstacles to overcome before this approach can be used in humans.
In the drive for smaller electronic components, chemists are thinking on a molecular scale. By combining two simple molecules, a hybrid has been produced that is both magnetic and an electrical conductor.
The standard of entries in the Olympus and Nature Light Microscopy Competition was extremely high. But there could be only one winner: a stunning image of a dividing newt lung cell.
