Featured
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News |
Start-up model patently flawed
Study shows more US professors go into business as consultants than as inventors.
- Zoë Corbyn
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News |
DNA patent ruling hinders Monsanto
Lawyers debate a European court decision on patents involving genetic material.
- Richard Van Noorden
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Letter |
Increase in African dust flux at the onset of commercial agriculture in the Sahel region
Emissions of African dust increased sharply in the early 1970s, but the human contribution to land degradation and dust mobilization remains poorly understood. Now, a 3,200-year record of dust deposition off northwest Africa has been constructed. On the basis of this dust record and a proxy record for West African precipitation, it is suggested that human-induced dust emissions from the Sahel region have contributed to the atmospheric dust load for more than 200 years.
- Stefan Mulitza
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- & Michael Schulz
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Careers and Recruitment |
Contract investigators
With jobs at pharmaceutical companies evaporating, working for a contract research organization is an attractive option for some. Heidi Ledford details the growing market.
- Heidi Ledford
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Opinion |
The business of biodiversity
The value of ecosystems is largely invisible to markets. Ricardo Bayon and Michael Jenkins call on governments to drive regulatory and voluntary economic instruments that put a price on the services that nature provides.
- Ricardo Bayon
- & Michael Jenkins
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News |
Russia pushes for domestic drug development
But building a complex industry from scratch won't be easy.
- Alla Katsnelson
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News |
Fusion reactor set to raid Europe's research funds
€1.4-billion gap in ITER project could be plugged with Framework cash.
- Geoff Brumfiel
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News |
Tapping the crowd for technologies
Just how seriously is BP taking its own call for public solutions to the Gulf oil spill?
- Amanda Mascarelli
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Opinion |
Climate class for business schools
Lessons on the risks and opportunities of climate change should be directed at future executives, given that many companies rival nations in greenhouse-gas emissions, says Genevieve Patenaude.
- Genevieve Patenaude
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Column |
World view: Entertaining science
Efforts by the US National Academy of Sciences to popularize science through movies will sanitize it as well, says Daniel Sarewitz.
- Daniel Sarewitz
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News |
US Supreme Court avoids clarifying patent stance
A highly anticipated case yields disappointingly vague results.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
US biotech firms line up for tax credits
Application process begins for cash to beat the downturn.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
Companies pledge to make more trial data public
Voluntary agreement by drug firms calls for all large clinical trial results to be published.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
Asteroid probe begins return from rendezvous
But is Japan's Hayabusa capsule carrying any precious asteroid dust?
- David Cyranoski
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Books & Arts |
The crop circle evolves
A growing underground art movement combines mathematics, technology, stalks and whimsy. Richard Taylor looks forward to a bumper batch of intricate crop patterns this summer.
- Richard Taylor
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Column |
World view: Defending democracy
Government surveillance technology programmes must aim to protect privacy and civil rights from the start, says Daniel Sarewitz.
- Daniel Sarewitz
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News |
Solar cells sliced and diced
Peel-and-stamp technique could pave the way for more efficient semiconductors.
- Geoff Brumfiel
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Opinion |
Scientific steps to nuclear disarmament
An advisory group and a network of international labs is needed to lay the groundwork for multilateral disarmament and forge links between nations, say Martin Rees, Ben Koppelman and Neil Davison.
- Martin Rees
- , Ben Koppelman
- & Neil Davison
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Editorial |
Advising the adviser
Europe's Joint Research Centre needs to find its place alongside the new chief scientific adviser.
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News |
US climate bill arrives in Senate
New legislation represents delicate compromise between politicians and industry.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Column |
Molecular modelling's $10-million comeback?
Is Bill Gates's decision to invest in software company Schrödinger an early sign of a new computer-aided era for drug design, asks Derek Lowe. Or is it just another small step on what's been a rather lengthy journey?
- Derek Lowe
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Regions |
Kentucky by the numbers
With targeted recruiting efforts under way, Kentucky is attempting to build a life-sciences hub.
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News |
Green patents corralled
Intellectual-property database could ease technology transfer.
- Quirin Schiermeier
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News |
Proposal sets whaling limits
Conservative hunting quotas require more scientific data.
- Janet Fang
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News |
US to overhaul restrictions on sensitive material
Export reform effort could help scientists who collaborate with foreign researchers
- Sharon Weinberger
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Editorial |
Nuclear ambition
The US weapons labs need to develop a twenty-first-century vision of deterrence — one that does not include making new bombs.
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Career Brief |
Industry job cuts plunge
Layoffs slow but companies are still not ready to begin hiring.
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News |
A truth test for randomness
Quantifying just how unpredictable random numbers really are could aid quantum cryptography.
- Zeeya Merali
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News |
What it will take to feed the world
Nature talks to the chief executive of France's national agricultural institute.
- Declan Butler
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News |
US nuclear policy could boost basic research
National laboratories to see funding increases.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Careers and Recruitment |
Maharashtra by the numbers
Bangalore and the south may be India's main information-technology centre, but the country's science hub arguably lies within the state of Maharashtra, home to the cities of Mumbai and Pune.
- K. S. Jayaraman
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