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Storing data forever

Storing data forever

From Nature Geoscience 3, 219 (May 2010) Unlike accountants, scientists need to store their data forever. This expanding task requires dedication, expertise and substantial funds. Data are at the heart of scientific research. Therefore, all data and metadata should be stored — forever, and accessibly. But it would be naïve to think that such a ‘gold standard’ of preservation could be achieved. In one spectacular example of the failure of science to save its treasures, some of NASA’s early satellite data were erased from the high-resolution master tapes in the 1980s. The lost data could now help extend truly global  … Read more

Dimensions of scientific diplomacy

Dimensions of scientific diplomacy

As scientists working in a range of disciplines come under fire in some sections of the media, Nature Physics in its February Editorial (6, 75; 2010) explains why science diplomacy matters. The Inter-Academy Panel (IAP) counts 103 of the world’s scientific academies as members, most recently the Academies of Science of Afghanistan, Mozambique and Nicaragua, and assembles once every three or four years to discuss issues, like climate change, biodiversity or nuclear proliferation, of global significance that hinge crucially on scientific knowledge, and the gaps in that scientific knowledge. The Nature Physics editorial continues: “The IAP initiative is typical of  … Read more

Mentoring matters, says Nature Cell Biology

Mentoring matters, says Nature Cell Biology

Sound mentorship can contribute significantly to the intellectual and professional development of mentees, but mentors also stand to gain strong leadership skills in this process, and the ability to draw the best from a team can only aid in the overall success of one’s research agenda, according to February’s Editorial in Nature Cell Biology (12, 101; 2010). While picking the appropriate problem and the right approaches is fundamental to a running a successful research programme, capable mentoring of laboratory members and new faculty members is also crucial. What are some of the objectives of good mentoring? The goal is to  … Read more

British scientists need to adopt a positive tone

British scientists need to adopt a positive tone

This is a shortened version of an Editorial in Nature ( 463, 402; 28 January 2010), which is free to access online. On 11 January, a coalition of 20 leading British research universities published an editorial in The Guardian newspaper warning of impending calamity. If the spending cuts being proposed by the government are implemented, the authors asserted, the nation’s entire higher-education system, eight centuries in the making, could be undone in just six months. Such alarmist statements have worked before. In an ordinary budget year, cries of falling skies and loss of leadership can pressure politicians to shift resources  … Read more

Access to biological databases must be guaranteed

The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) contains the most reliable and up-to-date genomic information available on the most widely used model organism in the plant kingdom. But TAIR now faces collapse: the US National Science Foundation (NSF) is phasing out funding after 10 years as the data resource’s sole supporter.  Read more

Nature Neuroscience speaks up for young researchers

The Editorial in the November issue of Nature Neuroscience (12, 1351; 2009) emphasizes the importance of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) policy of funding an increasing number of grants to young investigators with merit scores below the ‘payline’. Early-stage investigators are “especially vulnerable to funding crisis and are often at a disproportionate disadvantage when competing with more established laboratories for R01 grants. Such actions that protect some of these young investigators are critical if we are to retain young scientists and encourage our future research base”, states the journal. This problem may have been exacerbated by recent efforts to streamline the grant peer-review process, which may mean that evaluators are putting even more store on previous track-record, hence putting young researchers at a greater disadvantage.  Read more

Fundamental scientific research is a vital endeavour

Obtaining financial support for scientific research is generally more difficult for work that is fundamental in nature rather than applied. In the October issue of Nature Chemistry, Bruce C. Gibb of the University of New Orleans contemplates how topics such as complexity might get their share — and why it is vital that they do (Nat. Chem. 1, 513-514; 2009). As he puts it: “The deeper and more fundamental the work, the further the bubbles of ideas and discoveries have to rise to the surface of contemporary life, and the more things become unpredictable. For example, was the Swedish physiologist Ulf Svante von Euler-Chelpin thinking about the mechanism of action of Aspirin when he was isolating compounds (prostaglandins) from sheep sperm?  Read more

Nature Medicine on the translation from bench to clinic

Translating a basic finding into a new therapy requires us to speak many languages—scientific, clinical, legal and financial. Yet most of us are hopelessly ‘monolingual’, a limitation that substantially slows translational research. Steps have been taken to address this problem, but a lot remains to be done, as described in September’s Editorial in Nature Medicine ‘In the land of the monolingual’ (15, 975; 2009). The Editorial begins optimistically:  … Read more

No time to waste in assisting minorities, says Nature Immunology

The research community needs to increase the number of minority students who choose scientific research careers, according to the September Editorial in Nature Immunology (10, 927; 2009). Black and Hispanic Americans compose roughly one third of the US population, yet the percentage of graduate degrees earned by members of these minorities is much less than 30%. Only 168 people of a minority background were listed as faculty members in biological science departments of the top 50 research institutions in the United States as of 2007. How can the research community encourage more minority students to pursue a research career?  Read more